Caught in the Middle
by X.Living.And.Laughing.X
Summary: After saving the world from the Angels of Darkness, Alex Russo has been invited to attend Hogwarts School along with her brothers. She faces many challenges there, which includes new possible romances, learning unfamiliar spells, and staying out of trouble. However, things get more complicated when someone enters her in the Triwizard Tournament. What will Alex do? Alex/Draco
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so a few notes for this story. This is NO wizard competition or family wizard. But other then that, everything is still the same for the "American" wizards. Unlike the "British" wizards, the "American" wizards can flash in and out of places without saying anything. Their spells are also different, as you will see in this story. Some characters later on will be out of character (like Harper) for example. **

**Also, I'll be mixing up the plots in the Harry Potter series as well. Like for example, the Russo's will be going into the year with the Triwizard Tornament, but I want to include events from the 3rd book like the hippogriff scene. You'll see how it goes.**

**Also, about the ages, I want to put Justin and Alex into the same year, but Max will be one year below them.**

* * *

Alex's POV

Sup! My name's Alex Russo. Yeah, that's all you need to know about me. Oh wait, and one more thing...I'm a wizard. Jealous?

"Alex, hurry up!" my dad called from downstairs.

"Coming!" I yelled back at him, putting on my bracelets and my jacket.

Okay, so get this. I was invited to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry over the summer. Then again, it wasn't a big deal since Max got in as well.

Oh yeah, before I go on, I forgot to mention I had two brothers, Max and Justin. Max is...not smart at all. Hold on, that's an understatement. There are other words I would use but mom told me I can't make fun of my brother's not smartness for a whole month as punishment.

As for my brother Justin, he's the complete opposite, and I don't mean that as a good thing. He's one of those nerds at school who likes to bore people with his lectures about stupid stuff I don't care about. This morning, he was boring the family by talking about the history of Hogwarts. My head is still hurting from banging against the table many times.

I clutched to my letter in excitement as I thought happily about getting out of Wiztech. Wiztech is the wizard school in America, but once we found out we have been accepted into Hogwarts, dad let us choose between the two schools. Of course we would want to go to Hogwarts. I couldn't stand Wiztech anymore. All those nerds...it's like being around a bunch of Justins!

In fact, Professor Crumbs is the one that sent Professor Dumble-something (the headmaster of Hogwarts) a letter of recommendation for the three of us. He said something about getting rid of us...and I think by "us", he meant Max. Of course, he could have meant me as well...

I think what mostly helped me get in was the fact that I had just recently saved the world from the angels of darkness and won the esteemed "Wizard of the Year" award. I smiled cause I knew it killed Justin on the inside that I did something he didn't do.

"Alex! Hurry up!" my dad yelled again.

"Coming!" I yelled back at him. I looked at the stairscase leading downstairs. "Ugh, I hate the stairs", I muttered to myself. I took my wand out of my boot and flashed myself downstairs.

"Augh!" my mom screamed and fell backwards at my sudden appearance. "Alexandra Margarita Russo! You have to stop flashing in and out of places like that!"

"But mom! You know I hate walking down the stairs!" I complained.

My mom rolled her eyes as I made my dad carry my luggage to the taxi outside. I looked sadly at the Waverly Sub Station, thinking how I won't be seeing it for months...and sadness over.

I hopped into the taxi with Max sitting next to me, asking stupid questions like, "Are Britian and England far apart from each other?"

I noticed Justin rolled his eyes as he texted all his friends good bye. And by friends, I mean his only one friend, Zeke.

"Everyone in?" my dad asked as he got into the front seat. "Say good bye to your mother kids".

"Bye mom!" we all said. Of course, she reminded me not to get into trouble at school or else I was in trouble with her, but I think that everyone knows by now that I will get into trouble anyways and she'll get over it anyways.

We got to the airport in about thirty minutes. Dad told the taxi driver to wait for him, since he would not be getting onto the plane with us. Something about being too cheap to buy an extra ticket for himself or whatever.

"Okay guys, now Justin is in charge. I expect all of you guys to be on your best behavior", he said, looking at me. "Now, your school supplies are already bought and I have already put in money in your bank account at Gringotts".

"Question", Max said.

"Gringotts is the wizarding bank in Diagon Alley", dad answered before he asked.

"Another question", Max said.

"Diagon Alley is where wizards go shopping", my dad said.

"Thank you", Max said. I rolled my eyes at this kid not knowing these stuff. He never knows anything!

"Okay, you guys be good", my dad said, leaving us before his taxi drove off.

Justin rubbed his hands together. "Okay you guys, you heard that I'm in charge. First, lets-"

Me and Max were already walking to our terminal while Justin kept talking.

"Hey!" he said.

* * *

Sitting on the plane with my brothers was the worst seven hours of my life. Justin's heavy books he brought to read on the plane kept falling onto my lap. Max kept on asking, "When are we getting there? When are we getting there?"

God I wanted to kill myself!

At last, the minute we landed, I jumped out of my plane seat along with a few other annoyed people who were sitting by us. One little girl asked me, "Are they your brothers?"

"Psh! No!" I lied. She looked at me. "Okay, yes".

She put a comforting hand on me. "I'm so sorry for you".

I smiled at her. "Oh, everyone is".

"Hey!" Justin and Max both heard me. I rolled my eyes along with several people on the plane. See what I have to deal with?

Once we got out of the airport, Justin looked at his watch. "Guys, it's already 10 o'clock. We have to get to King's Cross before 11 o'clock because that's when our train leaves".

He gave us our platform tickets, but paused as he looked closely at it. "Alex, look at your platform ticket", he said to me. I looked at it. "This has to be wrong, right?"

"Yeah, where does it say if we need to go on the 'F' train or not?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Alex, this isn't a subway like in New York. It says platform nine and three quarters".

"So?"

"So that's not possible! Dad must have given us the wrong ticket".

"Justin, calm down. We'll just go there and see if we see that platform. If we don't, we could always ask for help or something", I tried to calm him down.

He nodded. "Okay, let's just get a taxi".

Max whistled loudly. "YO TAXI!" Everyone around us looked at him. Max shrugged. "Hey, I'm a New Yorker. What do you expect?"

To our relief, a cab stopped for us and we quickly went inside it. "King's Cross Station, please", I said to the driver. We arrived there in about forty-five minutes. By now, Justin must have peed his pants or something, by the way he was jumping around and panicking.

"Justin, relax!" I scolded him as I pushed my cart forward. He and Max were already embarrassing me and we had not even gone on the train yet.

But Justin was right. There was NO nine and three-quarters to be seen. Just a wall that had a nine on one side and a ten on the other. Max stood in between it.

"Hey guys! I think I found it!" he exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "Max, don't be ridiculous".

Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw a red headed girl who was just slightly shorter than me. "Uh", she said a bit bit shyly. "Sorry, but is your brother going to move out of the way?"

I looked at her. "What do you mean? He's just standing in front of the wall".

"Actually", she said slowly. "that's the entrance to platform nine and three-quarters".

I glanced at Justin, who shrugged his shoulders.

"I couldn't help overhearing you guys before", she continued. "I take it that you're new to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, we are actually. So how do you get onto the platform?" I asked her.

"Follow me". She walked towards Max and pushed him gently out of the way. She went right through the wall.

"Woah!" Max exclaimed. "Did she even use a spell?"

Justin shook his head. "Don't think so...she would have said 'Go Through MoThru'. Come on guys, lets follow her".

I went first, pushing my cart towards the wall. I braced myself as I got closer and closer...than all of a sudden, I'm on a different platform!

"Woah...", I whispered to myself. We weren't at school yet and there was already magic! I loved it!

The red headed girl saw me and grinned. "You can come sit with me if you would like", she said kindly. "My brothers are already on the train. I could introduce you guys later".

I noticed she didn't have any luggage with her. "Where are your luggage?" I asked her.

She smirked. "Made my brother carry them in for me", she said. I was already liking this girl.

"Huh, maybe I'll try tricking MINE into doing the same", I said deviously, making her laugh.

"Nice try Alex", Justin said behind me, struggling with his cart. I rolled my eyes.

"Come here", the red headed girl gestured to where she was as she got onto the train. I followed her, lifting my luggage onto it. She helped me carry it and opened one of the compartments towards the middle of the train. "Hey guys, there's a new girl coming to Hogwarts", she said. I looked in the compartment and saw three other people sitting there.

One guy was holding a toad and a book about herbology. The other guy was a sandy haired. The girl sitting across from them had long, white white and looked a little dazed.

The one holding a toad got up and helped me put away my luggage on top of the seat. "Thanks", I said to him. I took the seat with the girls.

"I'm Ginny Weasley by the way", she said holding her hand out for me to shake.

"Alex Russo", I shook her hand.

"I'm Neville Longbottom", said the toad kid.

"Seamus Finnigan".

"Luna Lovegood".

Suddenly, there was a knock on the compartment door. I saw Max and opened the door. "Hey, can I sit with you guys? Everywhere else is full".

"Sure", Neville said politely as he helped Max with his bags as well.

"Thanks man", Max said sitting across from me. "I'm Max Russo by the way".

"Russo? So you're Alex's sister?" Luna asked.

"Unfortunately".

"Hey!" I said to him, hitting his head and making everyone laugh.

"So where are you guys from?" Luna asked. "Your accents are quite peculiar".

"What accents?" Max asked dumbly.

I rolled my eyes at him. "We're from America", I explained to them. They all seemed very fascinated.

"Hold on", the dazed looking girl took out a magazine that said 'Quibbler' on the cover. "Are you 'the' Alex Russo?" she asked looking at me, tilting her head.

"Uh", I wasn't sure how to react to this. "yeah, I guess?"

Suddenly, everyone in the compartment looked as though they had recognized me. Luna smiled a little as she saw my confused face. "You were featured in my father's magazine, the 'Quibbler'. You were the one that defeated the angels of darkness and won the 'Wizard of the Year' award in America ".

"Oh, that", I shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Yeah, than that's me".

The guys looked at me in awe. "That's amazing", Ginny praised. "Why are you still going to school?"

I laughed. "It's not exactly my choice", I told her.

"No, I mean aren't your magical abilities far more advanced if you were able to defeat the angels of darkness?"

"Not really", I said. "Mostly, it was just luck in my opinion".

Max grinned. "Cool Alex, you're famous in the wizarding world in Europe as well!" He turned our new friends. "She is also famous in the American wizarding world for pulling the most pranks on people".

Ginny grinned. "You sound just like my brothers, Fred and George". The guys laughed at this when the compartment door opened suddenly.

"Hey guys", said a pair of red headed twins.

"Hey Fred, George", Ginny said. "These are our new friends, Alex and Max Russo".

The twins looked at us with widened eyes. "No way, you're Alex and Max Russo?" they said at the same time looking at me first. "We are big fans of your legendary pranks!"

One of the turned to Max. "We are a big fan of when you set that giant chicken on that school, Wiztech".

Max chuckled, leaning back in his seat. "Yeah...that was kind of an accident". The twins looked at him in awe.

"Do you guys know which houses you will be in?" one of the twins asked.

"Houses?" I asked.

"You know, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin".

"No one told us about the houses", Max said looking at me.

Neville nodded. "They will probably have you guys sorted in the first years".

"Which years are you guys going into?" Seamus asked curiously.

"Well, me and my other brother Justin are going into our fourth year. Max is going into his third year", I told him.

"Awesome!" Neville and Seamus looked at each other. "You'll be in the same year as us Alex!"

"And you'll be in the same year as me and Luna", Ginny told Max.

"Hopefully we will be in the same houses", Neville said. They all seemed really nice and I was glad to have some friends already. I wasn't really great at making friends. Back in New York, Harper was my only true friend.

"Hey", the one of the twin said suddenly. "It's been nice talking, but we have to go now".

"Gotta find Lee Jordan before he kills us!"

"Might want to go scare Ron with his tarantula!"

"Bye now!"

They left. Ginny shook her head. "Those guys..." I thought the twins were cool. Hopefully, we could pull some pranks on the kids together sometime this year!

"Hey, I'm going to go get changed into my robes", I told everyone. Only now did I notice that everyone wearing the school robes already. I slid the compartment door open and went to go look for the bathroom on the train.

Suddenly, I accidentally bumped into someone and fall onto the fall. "Hey! Watch where you're going you-" he starts to say. I looked up to see a pale looking boy with platinum hair. Behind him are two bigger boys who looked like his body guards.

"Uh", he stutters. "S-sorry about that". He holds his hand out for me, and I take it lifting myself off of the ground.

"It's fine", I said a little annoyed brushing myself off.

"I'm Draco Malfoy", he says still looking at me. I noticed his pale face turning a little red now.

"Alex Russo", I said. "Excuse me, I have to go get changed".

I'm about to walk away, but he says, "Wait!" I turned around. "Are you new to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah", I said. "I just transferred from America".

He nodded. "That's nice. We should h-hang out sometime".

I shrugged. "Sure". Gosh, people here were a lot more friendly and better looking than the people at Wiztech. Wait, did I just say better looking?

He smiled. "I'll see you around then". He turned around and walked away along with his 'body guards'.

I went to the bathroom and changed into my clothes quickly. Wow, it was just like the Wiztech uniform for some reason... at least it was nice and loose. The only difference with my uniform and everyone else's so far is that I don't have a tie. I noticed that there were different colors so far. Draco Malfoy was wearing a green one. Ginny, Neville, and Seamus wore orange, and Luna was wearing a blue one. Maybe they represented the four houses?

Even though I don't look and act like it, I'm super observant and smart, to my dismay. Honestly, I'm just lazy, but dad says if I wasn't, I'd be one of the most powerful wizards for my age.

I walked back to the compartment, where everyone was talking to one another.

"Hey guys", I said sitting down.

"Hey Alex, what took you so long?" asked Ginny.

"Oh, as I was going to the bathroom, this guy, Draco Malfoy, stopped me and we talked a little". All of a sudden, the compartment was filled with silence. I looked at them weirdly. "Uh, why did it get so quiet?"

"Um...well, see Malfoy...", Neville started to say.

"He's a Slytherin", Seamus said quietly.

"A Slyther-what?" Max asked. "It reminds me of a snake".

"Slytherin is the house Malfoy is in", Ginny said quietly. "It is the house of you-know-who".

Max raised an eyebrow. "I don't know who", he said. Everyone gaped at him.

"Your brother is joking, right?" Neville whispered.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm sorry, but I don't really know who as well". _Great, I was starting to sound like Max!_

Now, everyone gaped at me. Max and I looked at each other. Suddenly, I felt about as dumb as Max for not knowing anything. Maybe I should have read some of Justin's books before I got here...


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I was just wondering if I can get some more reviews? I could, I'll update faster and have more long chapters like this one! xD**

* * *

It was during the evening when the train stopped. We started talking to our new friends normally as if nothing has happened. I stuck to Max the whole time, craning my head over the crowd to see if I could spot my dork of a brother somewhere as we stepped outside of the train.

"Hey Alex", I see Justin walking towards me. He sees me with Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Seamus and raises an eyebrow. "YOU made friends?"

"Hey!" I said defensively. "I'm not THAT bad at making friends. At least I'm not a dork who pretends he has friends!"

He rolled his eyes. "oh yeah? Well...", he paused, not knowing what to say. "Oh yeah?!"

I patted him on the back. "Yup, great come back man". He crossed his arms. "So where were you?" I asked him.

"Oh, I made some friends with some Ravenclaws", he said. "Turns out, I have a lot in common with them".

"Oh no, they are a bunch of eggheads?" I said worriedly.

"Knowing Justin, they probably are", Max laughed and we high-fived each other.

Justin opened his mouth at him. "Why are you on her side all the time?"

Max shrugged. "What can I say? I love a winner", he pointed at me and I smirked at Justin.

He rolled his eyes again. "Come on guys, lets go to the carriages".

I went with Justin and Max since I lost my new friends in the large crowd of students. I sat in the carriage quietly along with my brothers. It was only the three of us in this carriage.

"So guys, which houses do you think you'll be in?" Justin asked, trying to make conversation.

I shrugged my shoulders along with Max. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about the whole sorting thing. From what I heard from Luna, they just put a smelly old hat on you and it tells you which house you are in. Don't ask me what THAT means...

Suddenly, the carriage stopped. "We're here guys", Justin said stating the obvious. But even I didn't say anything now because in front of us, the enormous castle towered over us. It really did look like one of those ancient castles...I mean, it looked magnificent! I couldn't believe I was going to be in this school for the next nine months.

"Woah", Max said. "This castle looks almost as big as all of Manhattan!"

"I know, right?" I whispered. We got off the carriages being pulled by...nothing.

We walked into the castle, led by an old witch. Talking paintings, floating candles, this place was excellent! I could only imagine how many secret passages must be in a place like this. Maybe I could go exploring at night. It was probably not allowed, but who cares?

Doors that looked twice the size of the giant I saw earlier opened and everyone piled into the hall. I stretched my arms and yawned. "K, I'm officially tired from all this walking. Anyone got a pillow?"

Everyone around me turned and looked at me weirdly. "Nevermind", I said walking behind Justin.

"I guess we are with these younger years to get sorted in", Justin whispered as the witch started calling out names. "Who wants to go first?"

"Justin Vincenzo Pepé Russo", the witch said.

Max patted him on the back. "Nice job, she said your name first!"

I snickered. "I love the way she says his name", I whispered to Max. "It's even funnier cuz the name is Italian and Spanish and she uses an English accent".

Justin looked rather shaky as he walked to the front of the entire hall. I squinted my eyes as I saw him put on a disgusting looking old hat. Geez, why couldn't we wrestle a troll instead? At least that wouldn't ruin my hair.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat shouted. Wow, a talking hat. You know, everything in this school is very animated.

"YEAH JUSTIN!" I said as loudly as possible, as everyone stared at me. "What? It's called being a supportive sister", I said.

"Ahem", the witch narrowed her eyes at me. "Alexandra Margarita Russo".

I walked to the front of the hall, feeling all eyes on me. Finally, I got a clear view of the high table. In the middle, I assumed that was the headmaster. He reminded me of Crumbs for some reason. I don't know, it probably has something to do with the beard. He had an amused looked on his face for some reason.

I walked to the stool where the hat was and lifted it up. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Eww, this has dandruff on it. Justin, have you washed your hair recently?"

The whole entire hall burst out laughing at my remark. Behind me, I see even the teachers look amused. I see Justin giving me an annoyed look from where he was sitting.

"Ms. Russo, please put on the hat. We will risk you getting lice for now", said the witch, receiving another laugh from the everyone.

I rolled my eyes and put the hat on.

_Hmmm, I see you have quite a sense of humor...what an interesting mind..._

What the heck? Is that thing reading my mind?

_Yes I am Ms. Russo._

Woah, talk about creepy.

_Hmmm, you are quite cunning...you will do anything to achieve your goal...if your not too lazy..._

Can't argue with THAT!

_You show bravery and courage at the same time. You care a great deal about your friends and family...you have proved that by defeating the angels of darkness to save your brother...you would do anything for them...so it better be..._

"Gryffindor!"

I nearly fall backwards in my seat at the loud voice all of a sudden. I hear a few laughter but mostly applause as I walk to the table where I see Ginny and Neville waving at me.

I was surprised to see Fred and George there as well, who each gave me a high five. I noticed the dark haired guy wearing glasses sitting next to me staring at me. He was kind of cute in my opinion...

"I'm Alex Russo", I introduced.

"Harry Potter", he says shyly.

A girl with bushy hair moves over in her seat so that she is sitting across from me. "Alex Russo? Are you the one that defeated the angels of darkness?" Wow, was I really THAT well known?

"Yeah, that's me", I said to her.

She smiled. "I'm Hermione Granger". Next to her was a red head boy who reminded me of Ginny, Fred, and George. "This is Ronald Weasley".

"Weasley? I was sitting with your sister Ginny before on the train", I said to him.

"Oh yeah, Fred and George were pretty excited about meeting you. You were pretty funny", he laughed. "I remembered reading about some of your crazy adventures and pranks. You've got to teach me how you do some of that stuff!"

"Oh, well most of it is just basic magic that I learned", I said to him as I saw Max go up.

I noticed the hat a took a while to decide for Max, but at last, it said, "Gryffindor!"

"Oh yeah!" Max got up from his stool as everyone cheered for him. "I have NO clue what that means but whatever!"

Ron and Harry laughed as he came over to sit next to me. We high fived each other for getting into the same houses. All of a sudden, my attention goes onto the food that appears magically onto our table.

I grab a few drumsticks and put some cake onto my plate. Yup, I'm an unhealthy eater and I'm proud of it. I turned back to Harry.

"So what year are you in?" I asked him.

"I'm in fourth".

"Same here!" I said excitedly. "How bout you guys?"

"Same", Hermione and Ron both said.

I looked at Harry and noticed something on his forehead. "Hey, that's a cool scar. How did you get it?" I asked him. Apparently, it was the wrong question to ask, because suddenly, people around me got quiet. Harry looked down.

"You don't know?" Hermione asked me in surprise.

"Sorry", I said quietly.

Too my surprise, Harry looked up, smiling at me. "It's fine Alex. I'd rather not talk about it right now".

I nodded my head. "Oh okay, I'm really sorry".

To my relief, before we could discuss anything else, the headmaster stood up from his seat and everything became quiet. He cleared his throat. "We have a few surprised this year. First off, we'd like to welcome the three Russo's here. They are the first American wizards Hogwarts has ever had, so we must try our best to welcome them. Also, maybe some of you have known, but most recently, Ms. Alex Russo has won the "Wizard of the Year" award".

Everyone clapped as I felt myself turn red a little in embarrassment. Next to me, Harry tapped me on the shoulders. "You're from the states? That's awesome!"

"No wonder you had different accents, and you really won that award?!", Hermione whispered.

Max raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, what accents?" Hermione looked at me and I mouthed to her 'ignore him'.

I didn't really see what the big deal about being American was, but apparently, most people at our table found this cool. Dumbledore continued talking. "Also, this year, Hogwarts will be hosting the-"

But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open.

A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swivelled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table.

A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. The girls at our table gasped.

The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike anything I had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening.

One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness. In my opinion, I thought it was pretty cool.

"Cool", Max muttered. Harry gave him a strange look before glancing back at the stranger.

The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words I couldn't hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat on his right-hand side.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

No one cheered or clapped. Everyone remained staring curiously at him. Some of the girls looked frightened at his presence. Even the teachers looked...uneasy.

"Moody?" I heard Harry muttered to Ron. "Mad-Eye Moody?"

"Must be," said Ron in a low, awed voice.

"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered. "What happened to his face?"

"Dunno," Ron whispered back, watching Moody with fascination.

I watched as he pulled out a hip flask and drunk it. Whatever it was, it didn't seem that good since he gave a little shudder after drinking it.

Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

Everyone cheered loudly, including Max. "Wooo! Yeah!" he shouted. "I have no idea what that is".

"It's an event where the largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang come together and compete", Fred or George whispered to us. "We've only heard that it's bloody brilliant and mad fun".

"Bloody?" Max said. "Oh, no thanks man. Justin's last girlfriend was a vampire and I have had enough nightmares about bats trying to suck my blood while I'm sleeping".

Everyone at the table gave Max a weird look. "You idiot, it's just one of the British slang!" I hissed at him. He was already embarrassing me a lot, and it was barely the first day!

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued", Dumbledore said.

"Cool", I said out loud. "Are there any age limits to this thing?"

"Not that I know of", Fred or George said.

"A new rule will come into effect immediately starting this year, which is that no wizard under the age of 17 may enter this competition", Dumbledore stated.

"Aww man!" the twins cried. They weren't the only ones disappointed. There were a lot of boo's and protests, though the headmaster was ignoring them. "That's rubbish!" they yelled.

"Boo! BOO!" behind me coming from the Slytherin table, I think, were some very obnoxious cute looking, but annoying guys shouting to the top of their lungs.

Annoyed, I pulled out my wand and muttered, "_They are no longer cute, put their voices on mute_". Instantly, they are mute.

Satisfied, I put my wand away. Next to me, I saw Harry gaping at me. "How did you do that?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, not answering his question yet. I was really sleepy now after eating so much, and all I wanted was for the headmaster to call it a day. Unfortunately, he was not done talking.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

"We are going for it!" the twins said excitedly to the Gryffindor table. "I don't care if we are under aged. Anyone want to join?"

I looked at them. "That sounds wrong and dangerous...I'm in!"

Ron and Harry looked at me, chuckling and shaking their heads. Ginny and Hermione gave me looks of disapproval. Max patted my back. "That's just like you Alex! First, lets make sure you don't get expelled from this school by the time the tournament starts!"

I look at Max than start laughing."Yeah, true that Max!" I look at the Gryffindor table and everyone looks at me. "What? It's too easy to get expelled for me these days", I said truthfully. "Especially since they gave me my wand".

"Alright, off to bed everyone! Pip pip!" Dumbledore says. I look at him like he was crazy. He really did remind me of Crumbs.

I followed all the Gryffindors out the hall as we headed towards our common room.

Suddenly, Ron tripped in front of me.

"Hey look! It's clumsy Weasley!" a girl with an ugly pug face taunts.

All the Slytherins start laughing. To my surprise, that guy Draco Malfoy is one of the people who joins her and laughs cruelly at Ron.

Before that pug faced girl started to taunt Ron more, I stepped forward. "Hey! I wouldn't be talking if I were you. That ugly pug face of yours can easily crack a mirror".

All the Gryffindors roar with laughter at this. Out of the corner of my eyes, I even see Hermione and Ginny, who seemed a bit uptight before, laughing as well.

I noticed Malfoy has a surprised look on his face when he sees me, but I don't make any eye contact with him.

"Huh", the pug face girl says. "A new girl. What school did YOU come from?"

"Wiztech".

"Ohhh! Wiztech! The school for wannabes!" she taunts.

I smirked to myself and face her. "You know", I said in the same taunting tone she was using. "you might WANNABE shoving your face there".

She opens her mouth, as if she can't believe I just said that. "Really?" she says in a daring voice.

"Really".

Everyone was watching us intently. The pug face girl probably realized that her friends weren't there to back her up, so she says as a come back, "What do they teach you there? How to pick up a wand?"

All the Slytherins start laughing. I smiled and took out my wand. "You mean like this? _From your chin to your toes, an elephant trunk grows_".

Her nose instantly becomes an elephant's nose. Everyone, including some Slytherins and Draco Malfoy, burst out laughing. I smirked at her. "You look slightly better now". She looked at me angrily and stomped off, pulling Draco Malfoy with her. The Slytherins followed her.

I helped Ron up from the floor. "That was ruddy brilliant Alex".

"What kind of spell was that?"

"I never heard of such a spell".

"Did you see her face?!"

All I wanted now was sleep. I felt satisfied and tired now. Once we got into the common room, I went to the girls' dormitory to look for my room, which I found in the second door to the left. I saw my list of roommates, which was: _Hermione Jean Granger, Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil_.

I saw that my suitcase was already there, I hopped into my bed, hoping to finally get some shut eye. Suddenly, the lights went on and the three girls had surrounded my bed.

"That spell you used was interesting. I've read up on some American spells. I take it that's the kind of spells you use?" Hermione said curiously.

"Wow! We have a cool new roommate!" one of them squealed, making Hermione roll her eyes. "I'm Lavender Brown".

"I'm Parvati Patil", the Indian girl said.

"Well", I said trying not to be rude. "It's nice meeting you guys. Now why don't you scurry off to your own beds for now!" I said in a cheery voice, pushing them away. The two girls reminded me of Gigi. Ugh.

They were such girly girls! I groaned as they kept whispering to each other and giggling. God, kill me!

I took out my wand and pointed it at them. "_Say good night, out like a light_". Instantly, they both fell fast asleep.

Hermione looks at me in surprise. I shrug my shoulders. "Be happy, I'm doing you a favor as well".

I roll to my side and cover myself with my blankets. Finally I can sleep!


	3. Chapter 3

"Wake up Alex!"

Someone shook me awake. It was Hermione. I groaned and rolled on my side. "Let me sleep more".

"Alex! Come on! You missed breakfast already! You need to get to your first class in thirty minutes! Let's go!"

I groaned and covered my head with my pillow.

"Alex, lets go!"

I groaned louder.

"NOW!"

God, she really sounded like my mom.

* * *

After twenty minutes of yelling and hair pulling, we both went downstairs to the common room, where Harry and Ron were waiting for us. "What happened? It sounded like someone was about to get murdered", he remarked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "SomeONE wouldn't get out of bed".

I rolled MY eyes. Harry chuckled and looked at me as he handed me a piece of paper. "What's this?" I asked him.

"Your schedule. I got it for you during breakfast", he said.

I smiled. "Thanks Harry", I said looking at it. "What classes do we have together guys?"

Ron did a double take as he looked at Hermione's schedule. "Bloody hell, I think we pretty much have all the same classes, except for only two or three!"

"Wow! Coincidence much?" I said. They looked at me weirdly, than it hit me that they were probably not so used to hearing American slang. "Nevermind".

"Lets go! I don't want to be late on our first day of classes!" Hermione pulled me by my arm, which I was sure was about to fall off.

History of Magic was our first class with Ravenclaw. Our teacher, Professor Binns, was a ghost. I mean, how much more stupid can it get. History of Magic was as boring as it sounded. That dull voice coming from the professor or the sound of both Justin and Hermione scribbling down notes was almost enough for me to jump off the astronomy tower.

Once the period was over, I heard everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Thank god THAT was over, otherwise, I would have died of boredom and been a ghost like the teacher! Maybe that's how he died...he BORED himself to death!

"Hey guys, we have Care of Magical Creatures, and Hagrid himself will be teaching!" Harry said excitedly.

"Come on Alex!" Ron pulled me before I could ask who Hagrid was.

Turns out, Hagrid was that half giant guy I saw yesterday as we were getting out of the train. According to the trio, he seemed like a pretty nice guy.

I groaned a little when I saw that pug faced girl (I recently found out her name is Pansy). Nevermind about Lavender and Parvati. THIS girl was Gigi. It seemed like she was the leader of Slytherin girls. Next to her, I saw that Draco Malfoy. I guess he wasn't as good as I thought he was. I looked more closely at the Slytherins and they actually did look like a gloomy bunch. Glad I wasn't placed there!

"Hey Russo!" Pansy called out my name as we all stood in front of Hagrid's hut. "What the hell was that spell last night?" I noticed that her elephant trunk was gone this morning.

"Oh, it was just a minor improvement to your face Pansy", I snickered. "Pansy...that name makes fun of itself!" I laughed along with the Gryffindor guys.

Before she could say anything else, Hagrid came out with a big winged creature. I noticed a lot of people stepping back as he got nearer to us. I smiled to myself as I thought about this creature trampling over Pansy and her ugly friends.

"Wait till my father hears about this! That stupid oaf as a professor...how pathetic!" I heard Draco whisper to his friends. I was ready to punch that guy in half now. Unfortunately, Hagrid had started talking.

"Meet Buckbeak everyone!" Hagrid announced. "He's very friendly now, so don't you guys worry!"

I don't think that really convinced anyone. Behind me, I heard Neville whimpering a little. Lavender gave a little squeal. I noticed Ron back away slowly next to me.

"Beautiful creature! Isn't he? He's a hippograff. Friendly creatures, but you do not want to offend a hippograff. Might just be the last thing you ever do", HAgrid said loudly. "So, who wants to come and say hello to him?"

I looked at the beast as it gracefully lowered its neck to the ground, chewing on the leaves. Suddenly, Hagrid's eyes were on me and he beamed. "Well done Ms. Russo!"

I looked at him, then turned around to see that everyone had backed up about five feet. Harry gave me a thumbs up. Hermione looked at me reassuringly. I rolled my eyes. "Cowards", I muttered loud enough for all my classmates to hear.

"Okay Ms. Russo, have you ever dealt with wild creatures such as this before?" he asked me.

I thought about it. "Well, does my brothers count?" Behind me, I heard a lot of snickering and laughter from the guys.

Hagrid chuckled. "I don't think so. But not to worry since it's simple enough. Just simply bow to Buckbeak, and see if he bows back". I looked at the creature, moving slowly towards it.

I leaned forward a little and lowered my head, glancing up to see if the creature would do the same. He did.

"Well done Alex", he clapped along with my classmates. "Well done. Have you ever ridden on a horse or something like that before?"

"Well, once when my brother Max accidentally set a dragon loose, I ended up riding on it with him so we wouldn't get burned. Turns out, it's not so comfortable riding a dragon because they have those sharp scaly things on their backs", I said.

Hagrid chuckled and nodded. "Believe me, I know. Well, the good thing about Buckbeak is that his feathers are much softer so it shouldn't be too much of a problem".

He helped me onto the hippograff. "Well, looks like one more person can rid as well. Any volunteers?"

I didn't expect anyone to volunteer, but to my surprise, and to everyone else's, Draco Malfoy stepped forward.

"Well Mr. Malfoy, you've ever ridden on a hippograff", Hagrid asked him. I noticed he was not as warm to the Slytherin as he was to me.

"I've ridden several times before and handled hippograffs as well", he answered coolly.

He walked over to me and Buckbeak, first bowing to the creature. The creature bowed back almost immediately. He then climbed onto the back, sitting right behind me. I felt myself turn a little red since he was holding onto my waist, but then I remembered that I was annoyed at him and the rest of the Slytherins.

"Alright! Hold on tight!" Hagrid said. I felt myself squeal as Buckbeak suddenly broke out into a run. All of a sudden, we were up in the air. I kind of closed my eyes as we were taking off, but this was magnificent! We were flying above the enormous Hogwarts!

The breeze brushed against my skin as the hippograff flew gracefully in the air. I felt the platinum boy wrapping his arms around me more as Buckbeak dove downward towards the lake.

"Lean forward", he whispered into my ears. I feel myself shiver a little at his low, cool voice. His face was so close that I could feel him breathing on my neck.

I leaned forward more, clutching onto the hippograff as it glided over the shining lake. I never wanted this to end, but as the hippograff turned from the lake, it landed back gracefully where Hagrid and the rest of my classmates were.

I saw that my classmates cheered as Harry, Hermione, and Ron came over towards us. Pansy and her gang also came as well.

Draco Malfoy got off the hippograff first. To my surprise, he held his hand out for me, which I took as I jumped off of Buckbeak as well. "Thanks", I said to him. Only now did I notice that his eyes were gray.

"Alex", Hermione shook me, breaking me out of my stare. "Come on", she muttered. I noticed she glared a little at the Slytherin before turning away.

I noticed Pansy and a few of the Slytherin girls giving me dirty looks, so I turned away from them.

"That was bloody brilliant Alex!" Ron came over to me.

"You really act like a Gryffindor, don't you Alex?" Harry grinned. I was glad none of them seemed to notice me and the blonde's staring contest before. My heart was beating faster for some reason when I looked at him. What the hell was going on?

"Was it okay with you and Malfoy?" Hermione asked in a lower voice.

I nodded. "Yeah, he was...nice". I knew that Gryffindor and Slytherin obviously didn't get along with one another that well, so I wasn't about to tell them about our moments during the ride.

"That stupid git, trying to show off", Ron muttered. "If he insults my family again this year, I swear I will-"

"Come on, lets not think about Malfoy now", Hermione said. "We should be heading towards our next class, which is...", she looked at her schedule and groaned. "Divination".

Ron looked over her shoulder at the schedule and groaned. "And it's with Slytherin again!" he moaned. Around us, I heard several other Gryffindors groaning as well.

"Well, lighten up guys", Harry said. "It can't be all bad".

* * *

It was bad. It was THE stupidest class I have EVER taken in my entire life! And that is without exaggerating. What the hell is an inner light? And all I saw was smoke and fog in my crystal ball. The only people interested in the class was Lavender and Parvati (of course).

"Now everyone, focus on your inner mind and cast yourselves into the future!" Professor Trelawny said in a dramatic voice.

I was sitting at the table with Hermione, Harry, and Ron. Ron and Harry looked like they were about to fall asleep. Hermione looked really irritated. I looked around the room and saw that all the students were half asleep.

However, Trelawny did not seem to notice anything at all and kept talking. "-eternal life, eternal energy, eternal-"

"This class is ETERNAL!" I said out loud. Harry, Ron, and a bunch of the Gryffindor guys burst out into laughter. I even noticed some of the Slytherins laughing as well. Hermione next to me giggled and nodded in agreement.

I groaned as the professor frowned at me and continued talking. Looking around, I took out my wand. I noticed Harry looking at me, and I winked at him before muttering the spell, "_Time fly, make this boring class go by_".

The bell rang and the period was instantly over. Harry looked at me with his mouth open, and I just shrugged as I gathered my stuff up.

"Hey guys, we are free till this afternoon", Hermione said. "What do you want to do?"

"Uh, I just want a quick word with Alex", Harry said pulling me into the hallway before anyone could say anything. He pulled me to the side as people passed us by. "How do you do those spells?"

I shrugged. "Those are the spells I learned to do back in America. Apparently, according to Hermione, the spells you guys do here are different".

Harry looked at me curiously. "But it's so much more advanced than our magic".

"I guess so", I said. "But it's tricky sometimes. If you don't say it right, the unexpected could happen...and that's what usually leads me into trouble", I muttered the last part. Harry chuckled.

"You're funny", he said, making me laugh. "You're the only one who would have the guts to say things like that".

I nodded. "Well, Americans do tend to be a little outspoken". We both looked at each other and laughed. I really liked Harry. He was nice and pretty cool.

"Hey Alex", I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned around and saw it was Draco Malfoy, with a cold look on his face. It wasn't towards me though. I noticed he was eyeing Harry instead, but looked back at me.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry said coldly.

Malfoy glared at him. "I wasn't talking to you Potter".

"Shove off and stay away from us", Harry said. "Come on Alex". He grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs before I could say a word to the Slytherin.

I wondered why he had a problem with Dra- Malfoy. He seemed nice to me. But at the same time, it didn't seem like Harry would get angry at someone for no reason. Maybe it had something to do with the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry. Honestly, I really didn't care too much about that, especially when most of the Gryffindor girls are already getting on my nerves. Actually, I just don't get along with most girls in general.

As we walked down the stairs into the Great Hall, I noticed everyone was crowded outside in the courtyard and bridge for some reason. I saw Neville in the crowd.

"Hey Neville!" I called out his name and he turned to me. "What's going on?"

"Oh, well you know how the other schools are supposed to arrive in October? That school, Beauxbatons, actually had arrived today. We'll get to meet them during lunchtime", he explained.

I snickered. "That is with these school names? First, Hog-Warts! That sounds nasty! Now Beaux-Batons. Aren't batons just sticks you throw in the air and catch?" Everyone around me looked at me. "Never mind", I said quickly.

* * *

I started laughing as I wrote a spell down on a napkin. "Hey Max! Get over here!" I called him. It was lunchtime now and everyone was sitting at the tables. I was showing off some "American" magic to the Gryffindors. Some people from other houses crowded around us to see.

"Max", I said to him as sat over where I was. "Say this spell", I showed him the napkin.

"_Satisfy my empty belly, make me a peanut butter and jelly_", he said out loud. Instantly, he turned into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

People around me laughed, although Hermione looked concerned. "You will be able to turn him back, right?"

"Easy", I said. "_Although I like such tasty snacks, I'd rather have my brother Max_".

Max appeared again, upside down in the seat. He looked annoyed. "Aww man, why did you have to turn me back so soon? I was living the dream!"

"Wait, so can you guys use spells to transform into animals as well?" Ginny asked curiously. "Like an animagus?"

Max shrugged. "See, I don't know about animals, but I can turn myself into a trash can!" He stood up. "_When you're tired of the same story, turn some pages._ Trash can". He instantly turned into a trash can.

I rolled my eyes as people laughed.

Justin came to our table. "Hey Alex, have you seen Max?"

"You mean the trash can?" I responded.

Justin looked at me. "Okay Alex, quit being mean".

I shook my head. "No I'm serious. Max is that trash can", I said to him as people started to giggle. Justin looked weirdly at the trash can, then back at me and shook his head.

"I don't know how I'm related to any of you guys", he said.

"Well now, what do we have here?" Everyone turned around and saw it was Dumbledore. Justin looked nervous along with most of the other people.

"Hey professor! Look, I'm a trash can!" Max the trash can said. A lot of people started chuckling around us as Dumbledore looked amused by this. "If you have any garbage, feel free to dump it here!"

I caught Harry's eye and we both started cracking up. Justin looked at me disapprovingly, but I think the headmaster was finding this rather enjoyable. "Interesting Max", he said with his eyes twinkling. "Now, if the rest of you will please take your seats, because we have some special guests coming, and we need to make some room for them".

He walked to the front of the hall. "Now, will the Gryffindors kindly move to the Slytherin or Hufflepuff table so that we can make some room for our guests, the Beauxbatons!"

I noticed most of the Gryffindors shifted to the Hufflepuff's table when he said this. I decided to go to the Slytherin's table since it was a lot more roomer at the end of it.

"Hey, why don't you sit with me?" Malfoy said to me as I past by. I noticed some of the Slytherin girls at the other end of the table giving me dirty looks.

"I don't think they want me here", I told him as the girls glared at me even more.

He rolled his eyes. "Who cares?"

I shrugged. "I don't". I took a seat next to him.

Across from me, I noticed a dark skin guy grinning at me. "I know I'm not supposed to say this", he whispered to me. "but you are pretty cool".

I scoffed. "Please, I'm just having some fun".

He grinned at me. "I'm Blaise. And I know you're Alex". _Wow, did everyone know me?_ Then again, Dumbledore did announce my name last night at the feast. Also, everyone seemed to especially know me as the girl who stood up to the Slytherin girls.

I noticed Malfoy was looking at me. The minute we made eye contact, I looked away, blushing.

"What are you smirking at Blaise?" I heard Malfoy say to the dark skin boy. He appeared to be smirking, looking at the both of us.

"Oh, nothing".

Suddenly, Dumbledore raised a hand, signalling everyone to be quiet. "Everyone! Please let us welcome the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress Madame Olympe Maxime!"

Instantly, the gigantic doors open. Two neat lines of blue uniformed girl walk in a neat line. I notice most of the guys are staring at them, and I roll my eyes. However, my eyes catch something very familiar.

As two of the blue uniformed girls do twirls and poses, one girl in the middle is wearing a flower dress with a flower hat and flower earrings...her red hair is tied up in a bun with a flower sticking out of her hair. Even her shoes are flowered themed!

I looked at the other side of the hall and make eye contact with Justin. We both mouth the same thing as the all the girls finally take a seat at the Gryffindor table.

Harper.


	4. Chapter 4

Alex's POV

Oh my god! What is Harper doing here out of all places! She was a wizard?

I feel like getting up and shouting the name of my best friend, but something tells me I shouldn't. Oh wait, that's just Justin shaking his head, signalling me to stay in my seat and be quiet.

"Welcome welcome!" Dumbledore says cheerily as he greets Madame Olympe Maxime.

In front of me, Blaise mutters, "Bloody hell, that's one big woman". She wasn't big in width, though in height, she would have made a good basketball player.

"Now then, I have another announcement to make. To help make Hogwarts more like their home for the next year, starting tomorrow, this month the ladies of the Beauxibaton Academy will take part in our daily everyday classes. They will be handed out schedules and will be able to experience and do what we normally do everyday as Hogwarts students", he said.

I noticed most of the guys cheering, except for Malfoy, who groaned a little.

"What? Don't you think they are pretty?" I teased him.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Please, in my opinion, I think they are just a waste of space".

I scoffed and Blaise looked at me. "Isn't someone pleasant?" I said sarcastically and Blaise snickered.

"Off you go now", Dumbledore said. I wasn't listening to half of the things he said. Oh well.

I got up and gathered my books and bag. "Which class do you have now?" Malfoy asked me. I glanced at my schedule and saw I had Astronomy. I think this was the class that we picked ourselves cause I remembered Harry, Ron, and Hermione had different classes in this period.

"Astronomy", I answered him. "You?"

"Same. I'll show you how to get to the classroom", he said.

"Okay, thanks". I smiled at him and he smiled back. Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed forward and all my books fall out of my hands. I'm not surprised to see Pansy when I turn around to see who it is. She gives me a nasty look as she whirls around and carries her shoulder bag.

Malfoy crouches down and helps me pick up my stuff as the Slytherins laugh at me. "You okay?" he asks.

"I will be in a second", I said as I pulled out my wand and point it at Pansy's bag. "_Rip torn. Rip Taylor. Rip bag_", I say. Pansy's bag rips open at once and everything falls out.

Blaise laughs along with some of the other students while Malfoy just looks at me in amazement. I shrugged at him and gesture to go before Pansy could realize it was me.

* * *

"Take your seats", the professor said. "Today as your first assignment, you will be observing Saturn and its patterns in the sky. Please pick your partners".

I looked around the classroom and saw that everyone pretty much had a partner. Behind me, I heard Pansy said in an annoying and demanding voice, "Draco, you're my partner".

"Sorry Pansy, but I already have a partner".

"Who?"

Suddenly, I feel an arm wrap around my waist. "Her", Malfoy says. "Come on Alex". Surprised by his actions, I just followed him to the back of the room. We both sat down, putting our stuff down. It didn't occur to me that everyone in the room was watching us for some reason.

"What?" I said to them. They all looked away. Malfoy smirked at me. "_What_?" I asked him.

"Nothing, you're just...interesting, that's all", he said.

"And is that a good thing?"

He didn't answer my question. "Let's just work on this".

I rolled my eyes as I took out my textbook. "Fine, Malfoy".

"Draco", he said shortly. "Call me Draco".

"Huh?" I ask, but whether he heard me or not, he doesn't answer. I just shrug and get started with my work. "Okay, so Saturn is the one with those ring things, right?"

Mal- I mean Draco looks at me weirdly. I shrugged. "Sorry, I have never taken astronomy before in my life. Back in New York, the smog is too thick to see the stars".

We both look at each other laugh together. I guess we were being loud because the professor clears his throat at us. "Ms. Russo and Mr. Malfoy, please stop flirting and get back to work".

I rolled my eyes as Draco's face gets red. "Whatever", I mutter as I look at my textbook.

"So what's your blood status?" Draco asked suddenly.

"Uh, I think I'm an 'O' positive".

He rolled his eyes. "I don't mean your blood type. I meant are you muggleborn, pureblood..."

"Ohh, well I'm a half-blood. How bout you?" I asked him.

"Pureblood", he answers.

"That's cool", I said looking at my textbook pretending I was working. "Having an all wizard family must be nice. Though the good thing about being half and half is that you can have the best of both worlds".

"Why would you want to live the muggle way?" he asked in a disgusted tone.

I thought. "You know what, good point. As a muggle, you have to do all those back breaking labor and it's exhausting, especially for someone who is as lazy as me". I paused thinking for a second. "But muggles are actually kind of smart, considering how they learned to live without magic".

Draco nodded. "Well, I guess I never really thought of it that way".

Just then, the bell rang.

Everyone in the classroom got up and gathered their books. "What do you have next?" Draco asked me.

"Transfiguration".

"I have a free period next, so I can walk you there", he offered.

"Okay then, thanks!" I smiled at him. I was still trying to figure out why Harry and the rest of my Gryffindor friends hated him so much!

* * *

Draco walked me to my Transfiguration classroom. We actually talked a lot and I learned a little about his family. Apparently, his father worked for the Ministry of Magic, whatever THAT was. He lived in a manor, which he invited me to come visit over the summer.

"Thanks Draco", I said as we walked into the classroom. "I'll see you in Potion's class later!"

"Yeah, see you", he said walking out.

Harry and Ron frowned as they walked into the classroom, noticing the platinum boy walking out. "What was HE doing here?" Harry asked.

"Oh, he walked me here. You know, since I'm new and all", I told the boys. I noticed they were frowning at each other. I turned around to go sit somewhere but nearly screamed when I saw Max standing right behind me. "MAX!"

"Hey Alex".

"What are you doing here?" I hissed. "You're a third year".

He showed me his schedule. "I know, but I kind of got my schedule mixed up. I thought today was Tueday at first and I accidentally missed this class. Professor McGonagall told me I had to make up this class this period". Of course he would get something so simple mixed up like this.

Professor McGonagall was that witch who read off people's names at the sorting. She seemed really strict, so I doubt I would be able to prank this teacher without getting expelled. So far, she was the only teacher I had that assigned everyone seats. Of course, I got to sit with my brother. Joy.

"Okay class! Let's review a little before we do some more complex spells! Can anyone demonstrate the switching spell?" she said.

Max raised his hand. "Ooh! I could!" He turned to me. "Alex, switch seats with me!"

I rolled my eyes and switched seats with him since I knew he would be doing that the whole class time if I didn't. "There! I did it!" Max said triumphantly. Everyone looked at him weirdly. I noticed Ron was holding back a laugh.

"Mr. Russo, that is not magical", McGonagall said a little exasperatedly.

"Professor, she never lets me have her seat. It's kind of magical", he said. The class started laughing as Hermione raised her hand, probably wanting to demonstrate how to do the switching spell right.

"Excuse me professor, he just forgot probably", I said trying to cover for Max. "Here, I'll demonstrate it". I stood up. "Alex, Max, _Cambia Corporum Meum Corpora Sua Nominavi_".

I felt myself go into Max's body. To my surprise, the witch looked stunned along with the rest of the class. "Oh don't worry!" I said in Max's body. "I know how to switch back". I performed the incarnation again and switched back into my own body.

"Ms. Russo...that was...", the professor said still looking stunned. "That was quite an interesting switching spell you just performed".

Suddenly it hit me. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I forgot that this is the one we learned back in America", I explained to her.

She nodded. "So you don't know how to do the regular spell here?"

"That depends, what is a regular spell?" I asked.

"Ms. Granger, will you demonstrate a simple spell for them?" she asked the bushy hair girl.

Hermione took out a quill pen and put the feather on her desk. "_Wingardium Leviosa_", she said. The feather floated up into the air and landed back on her desk.

"Cool!" Max said in awe. "Let me try: _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Nothing happened. He started waving his wand back and forth.

BOOM!

I coughed as black smoke filled the room from the explosion. Max was still smiling as he held his wand, all covered in black soot. "Cool", he said.

"Idiot", I muttered.

"Russo's", McGonagall coughed as the smoke slowly went away. "You two, come with me", she said. I rolled my eyes and hit Max in the back of the head. Great, we were in trouble now.

We followed her out of the room without saying a word. Everyone looked at us as we passed by them.

"Ah, Professor Dumbledore", she finally said as we got nearer to the Great Hall. Everyone looked our way as the headmaster looked at us in amusement.

"What is it Professor?" he asked her, his eyes twinkling in our direction. Why did they have to do this outside of the Great Hall, where everyone could see and hear what was happening?

"Sir, these children", she pointed in our direction. "perform magic far more advanced then the students in their year. However, they lack the ability to perform the simplest of spells that we teach here at Hogwarts".

Dumbledore looked over at us carefully. "Hmm", he said thoughtfully. "Your old school went by the name of 'Wiztech', am I correct?" We nodded. "And your old headmaster was Professor Crumbs?" We nodded again. _Seriously, I wish we could have this conversation somewhere else where people aren't looking at us._

He nodded and closed his eyes. "According to the letter I had received from the Professor, he explained how our magic might be different from the magic you are accustomed to. Nevertheless, he said you three had the potential to adapt to our way of magic".

"Woah woah woah, slow down there Professor", Max said. "Are you sure he said all THREE of us had the potential? I thought the whole reason he wanted to send us off to this school was just to get rid of us. Particularly me, especially after I sent those dragons loose in Wiztech", he said the last part quietly.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Well, he did mention in the letter how you have...unusual habits, yet you were able to out-smart a genie according to him".

I laughed out loud. "Please, it was more like out-dumbing the genie", I muttered.

"And as for Ms. Russo, he said to watch out, for you have a tendency of using magic irresponsibly", his eyes twinkled at this. "In fact, I got several letters from your previous teachers about this and already a few memos from your father asking if you have caused any trouble yet".

People around the area chuckled at this comment and I was surprised to see Dumbledore smiling at this. "I look forward to seeing what you can do with your magical abilities", he winked. "Professor McGonagall, perhaps the Russo's should have extra sessions held so that perhaps some of our students could tutor them and help them to catch up to their year".

"Very well Sir", she said to the headmaster before turning back to us. "You two, go back to the classroom. I'll be with you guys in a moment".

* * *

3rd POV

"Everyone may clear out of this hallway", the headmaster informed all the students present there as the two Russos walked back to their classroom. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a certain platinum blonde staring after the American wizard before walking out of there.

"Professor", the headmaster addressed the Transfiguration teacher. "Isn't it amusing?"

"Sorry, but what is amusing Sir?"

"That the most powerful wizard of this generation was right in front of us".

The elderly witch gaped at him. "Surely, you don't mean Al-"

He cleared his throat as he had recited part of the letter that the headmaster of Wiztech had written to him. "_Though she tends to use her magic irresponsibly, she possesses quite immense powers if she uses them right. Though she does not know it, she will grow up to be one of the most powerful witches (good or bad)_".

The headmaster chuckled in amusement. "Surely Professor McGonagall, you wouldn't expect a young witch like her to defeat the Angels of Darkness without having an immense amount of power?"

He looked down and closed his eyes. "Or will".


	5. Chapter 5

Alex's POV

Transfiguration was kind of cool, except for the fact that I couldn't do ANY of the simple spells!

"Concentrate Alex, you can do this", Hermione kept encouraging me. I threw my wand and slouched in my seat.

"I can't do this!" I looked at Hermione. "I appreciate all that you're doing for me, but I don't think I could do this".

She sat next to me. "Of course you can Alex. It just takes patience and concentration. Not everyone can get it in the first try. Now here". She set a brick on my desk. "Transform that into a dove".

I waved my wand a few times at it, but nothing happened. I grunted in frustration making everyone look my way. "That's it! I give up! _This brick is now not, a dove should fill its slot_". The brick turned into a dove.

I slouched back down in my seat. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do your magic".

Suddenly, the bell rang to my relief. "Ms. Russo, will you come here for a second?" Professor McGonagall summoned me to her desk. I walked over to her. "Ms. Russo, I will not assign you the homework I'm assigning everyone else. Instead, I want you to find yourself someone who can help you learn our spells, so that you can catch up to your level. The O.W.L.s are coming up next year, and you have to take it. No exceptions".

I nodded and walked out of the classroom, where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting for me.

"We heard", Harry said softly. "We could help you learn the spells if you want".

I smiled at them. "Thanks guys". _I was glad to have understanding friends._

"Lets hurry, we have potions now", Hermione said.

Harry and Ron groaned. "Please don't tell me we have this class with Slytherin..." Ron groaned. Hermione nodded slowly as he went to go bang his head against the wall.

"Not all of them are that bad", I said thinking of a certain platinum haired boy.

"Alex, believe me. You're new here, but you'll see that they are all the same", Harry said. "All they care about is blood status".

Before I could protest, Hermione said exasperatedly, "Honestly, could we talk about this later? Let's go!" She began to walk faster. "I don't want to be late!"

* * *

We breathed heavily as the four of us ran into the potion's room.

"You're late", came a cold, low voice. I turned to see it was the greasy haired, big nosed Professor. "Twenty points from Gryffindor". Something tells me he did not like us.

"Potter, Weasley, Granger. Take your seat". The three of them went to go sit at an empty table together. I was about to follow them, but he said, "Not so fast Ms. Russo. Come take a seat up here in the front, where I can keep an eye on you". I noticed most of the Slytherins were snickering at this. Why the hell didn't he say anything to THEM?

"Go take that seat next to Mr. Malfoy", he said. I noticed Draco smiling warmly at me as I went to go sit over by him. _See Harry? They are not all the same._

I noticed Blaise and Pansy were sitting with him as well. Blaise smiled at me as well while Pansy frowned. "So", Professor Snape (I think) said. "Does anyone know how to brew the Confusing Draught? You should know this from your new textbooks, unless you have not even bothered to open it up".

No one answered. However, I raised my hand. I think I knew this one, because back when I was home schooled by dad, we worked with some potions (like "emotion potions"). Unfortunately, when we had to find a cure for Max (I accidentally spilled some of the potion on him), I had to read through a huge book of potions, which was kind of interesting considering most of it was dark magic. Actually, I ended brewing potions for my pranks at Wiztech, which landed me into several detentions.

"Ms. Russo, what a surprise. From what I have heard so far, you couldn't even manage the simplest of spells, let alone know the incarnations", he smirked. The whole Slytherin roared in laughter at this, but I did my best to ignore them as I tried to remember how to do the potion.

"I think that the main ingredients are scurvy grass, lovage, and sneezewort", I said confidently. "You have to make you stir the grass well with the lovage, or else the potion won't work. The main-"

"Ten points from Gryffindor Ms. Russo", he interrupted me.

I opened my mouth. "What did I d-"

"You spoke without my permission. Trying to be a show off like know-it-all Ms. Granger-"

"Hey!" I interrupted him, standing up from my seat. Everyone in the room gasped. "I'm not trying to show off! I'm just answering your question!"

"You just bought yourself a detention, Ms. Russo", he said calmly. "Sit down in your seat".

"Did I get a good deal on it?" I asked sarcastically.

Draco pulled me by my robe. "Don't push it", he hissed at me. I sat back down on the chair, my arms folded.

Snape turned back towards the class. "With your partners, you will attempt to brew a simple love potion by the end of this period, exactly as instructed in your textbooks. Begin".

I huffed as I opened my textbook up to the first page, thinking of curses I could use on Snape.

"Bloody hell!" I heard Ron from where he was sitting. "Why are we doing love potions?"

"Hey Alex", I turned my attention away from the back table and looked at the platinum blonde, who had already begun working. "It says to begin by stirring powdered moonstones".

"Right", I said not taking my eyes off of my textbook. "Lets see, we need rose thorns, ashwinder eggs, and peppermints. Keep that fire on low".

Draco nodded as he followed my instructions. "You're good at potions. How did you know the ingredients to brew the confusing draught?"

"Oh, well I kind of made it once to put into one of my annoying classmate's drink back at Wiztech. First kid to fail every single subject in one day", I sighed, reminiscing all the good pranks I pulled in that school.

Draco laughed as he began to stir in the eggs. "Don't you get in trouble for doing stuff like that?"

"Well, I do, but I'm pretty much used to it", I snickered. "I'd rather have some fun than being a bookworm like my brother".

He looked at me puzzled. "Max?" I nearly laughed out loud, but saw Snape looking our way.

"No, I have another brother whose in the same year as me, Justin. He's in Ravenclaw, along with all the other eggheads", I told him.

"Oh yeah, the one that had dandruff, which you mentioned at the sorting", he snickered, and we both burst out laughing. We didn't even notice that everyone was looking at us.

"Ms. Russo and Mr. Malfoy? What do you find so amusing? Are you almost done with your potion?" Snape asked in a lazy voice.

"Yes sir", Malfoy muttered as I added some rose thorns to the potion.

I stirred it a couple of times before seeing a heart smoke rise out of it. "Done!"

"Really Ms. Russo? And I'm sure Mr. Malfoy probably did all the work for the both of you", he said. I was about to argue that I did my fair share of the work, but to my surprise, Draco was the one that talked.

"Sir, actually, she did most of the work", Draco said. "I just did as she instructed me to do".

Before Snape could say anything, the bell rang. Finally class was over!

"Hey, good job on the potion", Draco said as he packed up his books. "Even Professor couldn't say one bad thing about it".

"Thanks", I blushed a little at his compliment. "I'll see you around?"

As I was about to leave, I felt a hand grab my arm. "Alex?" I turned around to face the platinum hair guy. "Um, I can help you out with the spells...you know, whenever you're available". He rubbed the back of his head as he quickly added, "I heard Dumbledore talking to you and Max about it earlier in the hall".

I grinned at him. "Sure, that would be great Draco. Thanks", I said. Almost impulsively, I kissed his cheek.

I pull back quickly, blushing madly as he too, turned red as well. _What the hell was I thinking? _

All of a sudden, I feel a hand slap me across the face as I fall to the ground. "Alex!" I hear Draco's voice call my name. I looked up and glared when I saw Pansy, that pug faced girl looking enraged at me. To my surprise, however, Draco shoved HER to the floor. Hard.

"Bloody hell Pansy! What was that for?" he took out his wand and pointed it at her.

"Draco, it's fine", I said to him as I felt something liquid drip off my face. Great, blood.

He looked at me with his eyes wide, putting down his wand. "Alex! You're hurt!"

I shook my head. "It's no big deal. I've been a lot worse before", I said, as I wiped off the blood on my face.

"Come on, let's get you out of here", he muttered, wrapping his arms around me and leading me out of the dungeon (and leaving Pansy crying on the floor).

We walked to the courtyard as I went to go sit on the grass, dropping all of my books and lying back. "I'm so tired!" I stretched out on the grass.

Draco chuckled as he sat down on the grass right next to me. He took out a handkerchief from his bag and wiped off the blood on my face. I flinched a little. "Hold still", he muttered at me.

I sat up as he threw his handkerchief into his bag. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw all his Slytherin friends gathered by a large tree. "Shouldn't you be with them?" I asked him.

"Huh?"

"I'm not blind Draco. I've noticed ever since I came to Hogwarts that Slytherins don't usually hang around with people from other houses. Especially Gryffindors". I looked him in the eye as I thought about what I talked about with Harry before. "Why do you help me?"

He sighed and laid down on the grass. "It's complicated Alex, it really is".

"But how? You bully my friends but not me".

"Are you talking about the mudblood and blood traitor?" he muttered.

I raised an eyebrow as I tried to remain calm. "Excuse ME?"

"Honestly, they shouldn't have people like THOSE into this school".

"Maybe they shouldn't let people like YOU into this school", I said flatly, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice. _All they care about is blood status..._

He looked at me, sitting up now. He had a hurt expression on his face but he hurt me by talking about my friends like that. He hurt me when he said that muggleborns shouldn't be allowed in this school. I was half muggle-born.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, one of his Slytherin friends called his name. "Hey Draco! Come over here and away from that filthy Gryffindor!" They all laughed. "Hey Russo! Nice scar on your face!" one of the girls said. They all started laughing again.

I got up quickly and grabbed my stuff. "See you", I said coldly to Draco, leaving him with his friends. _Maybe Harry was right after all._


	6. Chapter 6

Alex's POV

"Uh, Alex?" Ron said my name worriedly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why are you asking?"

"Because you're killing your sandwich".

I looked down and saw that I was crushing my sandwich tightly. Everything had come out of it. I threw it back onto my plate and sighed as I wiped my hands on my robe.

It was dinner time and I decided to sit at the Hufflepuff table with my friends, since the Beauxibaton girls were using the Gryffindor table. It was a little tight here, but it was better than sitting at the Slytherin table, where I would see Draco.

"You sure you're okay Alex?" Harry wrapped his arms around my shoulder.

I nodded, blushing a little that he was so close. "Yeah, I'm totally fine", I lied. I got up from the table. "I just need to speak to Justin about something". I just said that as an excuse to walk around a little.

I took my cup of water and started drinking it since I haven't drunk anything since lunch time.

All of a sudden, I feel someone hugging me like crazy, and I start choking on my water. "ALEX!" The familiar voice screamed as the she jumped around, still hugging me. I was still coughing on the water.

"H-Harper?" I said in between coughs as I recognized her red hair.

"Omg Alex! You're choking!" she said hitting my back hard repeatedly many times.

I would have said, "Gee, I wonder why", if I wasn't coughing so much. I drained my cup of water and put the cup onto the table. I crossed my arms at Harper.

"Okay, first of all Harper, don't EVER hug me like that when I am drinking!" Then I smile. "And second of all, I miss you so much!" We both jump around and hug each other just like we used to do when we were little kids. Some things sure don't change.

"And third of all...what ARE you wearing?" I took a step back and looked at her outfit. She had a broomstick head bend on her head. She dress looked more like a gown and had golden stars with a dark blue background. She had a toad bracelet on and her shoes looked like it was made out of owl feathers.

"This is my wizard outfit", she said posing. "I thought it was fitting since we were at a wizard school".

"Wait, I never knew you were a wizard", I said, feeling a bit hurt that she didn't tell me.

"Actually, I didn't either, until a letter was sent to me. Now, I go to Beauxibaton. I mean, who knew that a girl who was born in Nemaska backstage behind a nightclub could ever fit in with a bunch of French witches?" I looked at her, not believing her. "Okay, so I don't really fit in, but at least our headmistress lets me wear my outfits!"

"Uh, Harper? Could we go sit somewhere instead of standing", I said noticing that the ENTIRE Great Hall, including the teachers, were staring at us.

"Okay!" Suddenly, she gasped. "Omg! Is that Justin over there?"

I smirked as I saw Justin shrinking in embarrassment at his table. Harper kept waving at him to get his attention, but I pulled her away, thinking that Justin has suffered enough.

We sat by ourselves at the end of the Gryffindor table. I noticed the girls in the blue uniforms scooted away from us. At least there's a lot more elbow room here.

Me and Harper started catching up with each other. "So Alex, how many times have you gotten into trouble?" Harper asked with her arms folded. God! She really reminded me of mom!

"Only one detention so far!" I said proudly.

"Alex, how is that possible? It's the first day!" she said disapprovingly.

"That's cause she doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut", someone said behind me. I turned around and rolled my eyes when I saw none other than Draco Malfoy.

"You're one to talk", I spat back at him. "Come on Harper, I'll show you to my common room". I grabbed her hand and walked out of there before he could say anything else.

"Who's that guy Alex?" Harper asked me teasingly as soon as we were out of there.

"No one", I muttered. "Just a stupid, Slytherin!" I screamed the last part, making all the students (and ghosts) stare at me as they walked by in the hallway.

"Seems to me you like him".

"I do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"ALEX!" Harper stopped in front of me and put her hands on my shoulder. "We've been best friends for like...forever. I can read you inside out like a book-ALEX!" She snapped her fingers in front of me. I nearly felt like zoning out.

"Sorry", she said rolling her eyes. "I forgot you tend to zone out when I say the word 'book'. But I'm serious Alex, I know when you like someone. It was just like with Mason..."

"Harper, can we please not talk about my ex-boyfriend? He broke my heart last year...", I closed my eyes as I briefly thought about him, but quickly shut him out of my mind. "Besides, even if I do like Draco Malfoy, he's a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor".

"But Alex, since I have known you, you never let something like that get between your relationship. That's what I like about you. You don't care about what other people think", Harper said. "I mean, even though everyone for SOME reason makes fun of my outfit, you still stick with me cause we are best friends".

I smiled. "Yeah...I guess I do. Thanks Harper", I said hugging her. We pulled away after a while and continued walking to my common room.

"So...which house did Max get into?" she asked as we walked on the moving staircase.

"Same house as me unfortunately, Gryffindor", I sighed.

She giggled. "You know, I did research on this school before I came here since this is considered one of the greatest wizarding schools in the world. Each of the houses has a special quality".

"Hmm, really? I didn't really notice. I think Justin was telling me something about it, but you with him, I always zone out", I laughed. "Chocolate Frog", I said to the fat lady in the portrait, and she opened the door for us. Luckily, it was still dinner time and the common room was empty except for a few people I never talk to.

Me and Harper went to go sit on a couch. "So what are these qualities?" I asked her curiously.

"Well, from what I remembered, Gryffindor is brave, Ravenclaw is smart, Hufflepuff is loyal and hardworking, and Slytherin is cunning", she explained.

"Huh", I said. "So Gryffindor is for people who can watch scary movies and don't leave in the middle of it, Ravenclaw is for eggheads like Justin, Slytherin is for people who cheat if it means winning, and Hufflepuffs are for people who weren't able to get into the other houses".

Harper and the other people in the room looked at me weirdly. "In other words, pretty much", Harper said slowly.

"Now that I know this, I'm surprised that Max is in Gryffindor", I said taking an empty bowl from the coffee table. I took out my wand and said, "_Pop me some popcorn_". Instantly, popcorn appeared and I popped a few into my mouth.

"Then again", Harper said taking a few of the popcorn, "if you think about it, whenever you are in dangerous situations, Max is always the calm one usually".

"You're right! Well, that's cause he's too dumb to know it's a dangerous situation", I said. "How about with me? Shouldn't I be in Slytherin?"

Harper looked thoughtfully. "Well, you usually do anything to make things go your way...but after saving the world from the angels of darkness, I understand why you are in Gryffindor. After all, you wouldn't want to be in the dark house. It wouldn't look so good that the hero of the world is in the Slytherin house".

I sat up looking at her. "What do you mean? What's with all this talk that people from Slytherin are always bad?"

She looked around. "Well, you know how You-Know-Who was in that house?"

"I don't know who! Okay, who is that? No one has answered my question about You-Know-Who guy! How do people know who this You-Know-Who guy if nobody will say his name?!"

"Shhh! Alex!" Harper covered my mouth. "He was a really evil wizard Alex, before you and I were born. He practically terrorized the whole world...that is until he tried to kill a baby boy named Harry Potter".

My mouth dropped open. "Harry Potter?" I said each syllable.

"Oh, so you DO know the story!" Harper said looking cheerful. "I don't have to tell it than!"

"Harper! I meant I know him! He's my friend at this school", I told her. She looked at me in surprise.

"Seriously?" she gasped.

"Yeah, but I'm the only one (besides Max) who doesn't know why he's famous!"

She sighed. "From what I have read, You-Know-Who tried to kill Harry when he was a baby with a killing spell, but for some reason, Harry survived. The dark lord disappeared the face of the earth after that happened".

"Wait, how do you know all this Harper?"

"It's called 'reading' Alex", she rolled her eyes.

"So is that how Harry got the scar thing?"

"Pretty much".

"I wonder why he didn't tell me".

"Alex, his parents died that night".

My eyes widened when she said this. "Oh, I swear I didn't know that...poor Harry". I thought about the dark haired guy with the glasses. "Wait, so the people in Slytherin today-"

"Most of them come from families that were followers of the evil wizard. For all we know, they could be followers themselves", she answered. "Besides that fact, I've heard that there has just been a big Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry thing".

"Woah", I said leaning back in the couch. Wait, so was Draco one of the followers? For some reason, I found that hard to believe. Wouldn't he had hurt me though? But maybe this isn't why he liked Harry...

"Hey Alex, where were you at dinner?" Hermione asked coming into the common room with Ron and Harry behind her.

"Oh, hey guys! I was just catching up with my B.F.F!" I said. They looked at me blankly. "She's my best friend", I said a little quickly and embarrassed.

"Hey, I would love to stay and chat, but my toad bracelet is hopping away!" Harper said in panic as her 'bracelet' hopped out of the common room. The trio looked at me weirdly. I just shrugged as if it weren't an unusual thing.

"Your best friend goes to Beauxibaton?" Ron asked sitting across from me.

I shrugged. "I guess so. A bit surprised at this news actually".

"Why did you guys leave dinner so early? You guys sure drew a lot of attention in the hall", Hermione giggled.

"Just felt like catching up a little. We weren't that hungry", I answered.

Suddenly, Neville came over to me. "Hey Alex. Uh, Malfoy wants to speak to you", he said. "He's right outside waiting next to the portrait".

"I'm not here".

"He said that he would sleep out there all night until you come out".

"Well then, I sure hope he brought his P.J's".

"Alex, he seemed serious".

I rolled my eyes. Another thing I learned about Draco Malfoy: he was very stubborn. "Fine, I'll go and talk to him".

Harry got up. "Should I come with you?"

I shook my head but smiled at his offer. "Thanks Harry, but don't worry. I can take care of myself. I've had a lot of practice back at Wiztech, every time Max set those pixies free. Man they were irritating!"

Ron laughed at this while Hermione smiled. Harry still looked worried but I smiled at him. I took a deep breath and pushed through the people coming in from dinner. I wondered what Dra-Malfoy would want to talk about with me now. Yeah, it was last names as of right now.

I walked through the portrait hole and saw that he was indeed standing against the staircase, as each Gryffindor passing by him gave him a dirty look. I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes at him.

"What do YOU want Malfoy?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

He seemed a little aback taken at this. I'm not sure, but I could have sworn he looked hurt when I said "Malfoy".

"Alex, look...I'm sorry", he said in a sincere voice. "What I said earlier, I meant-"

"What?" I asked coldly. "Maybe it's best if we aren't friends. You wouldn't want your Slytherin friends to see you with a half-blood like myself".

"STOP!" he suddenly shouted, making everyone look our way. He took a deep breath and said gently, "Alex, I really don't care about what they think of you. You're the first real friend I made in the four years I've been here...and I don't want to lose you". Then he said quickly. "As a friend".

I smiled at him genuinely, even though a part of me felt disappointed for some reason when he said only 'friend'. I shook off that part and gave him a hug.

"That really means a lot to me", I said. "I'm not usually that good at making friends, so that really meant something. Thanks". We stayed in our hug for a few minutes.

"Ahem". I turned around to see Harry, looking a little perplexed and annoyed. "I didn't know that you two were busy".

"Oh, well we were just talking", I told him as I felt Draco's arm wrap around my waist. "I'll be in the common room in a few minutes".

He just nodded, glaring at Draco for some reason, and left. Could it be about that You-Know-Who thing or just a Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry thing like Harper said?

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in some of the classes?" Draco said snapping my thoughts back into reality.

"Yeah, sure!" I said. "Good night Draco", I winked at him before walking into the portrait hole.


	7. Chapter 7

Alex's POV

"Guess what we have next Alex?" Ron said excitedly as the bell rang. "Defense Against the Dark Arts! Our first class of it!"

"Finally!" I said throwing my books in the air. "Sorry Professor Flitwick", I said, looking at the short teacher who crossed his arms at me with a disapproving look. I picked up my books and met my friends by the doorway.

I was excited to finally do some real magic around this place. So far, all we have done was charms and simple spells. Now is when t should get really fun, especially with that weird eyeball teacher.

"Come on guys!" I skipped ahead of the group rather giddy. I was in a good mood since I knew Harper would be at that class. She was actually in at least two of my classes so far, to my delight. I usually hung out with Harper without my school friends cause we wanted to hang around like old times sake.

"Slytherin again", Ron groaned looking at his schedule. I felt myself blushing a little when he said that. Ever since our talk outside the Gryffindor common room, we've been really close to each other. Heck it seemed like I knew him forever! Yeah, we did have our fair share of arguments over the stupidest things. But we got over it in about ten seconds and discussed something else.

At the same time, me and Harry were getting rather close as well. Ron calls it "flirting" when Hermione called it "immature socializing". I have to agree with Hermione though, cause I kept trying to make Harry said a bunch of words I thought sounded funny in British.

He told me about how the DADA teacher position seemed cursed because they have had three different teachers over the three years, which of course made me more interested in the class.

"Alex!" I heard Harper call my name as we entered the classroom. I grinned and took the seat next to her.

Behind me, several seat back, Harry and Ron sat together while Hermione sat with one of the other Gryffindor girls. Draco came and took a seat next to my row and smiled at me when he saw me. Blaise also gave me a nice smile before sitting next to his best friend. Pansy and her group sat in the back.

"Class". I jumped up, not seeing the auror come into the classroom. No wonder he was an auror! What ever that was. "I'm Alastor Moody, ex-Auror, ministry malcontent. I'm here because Professor Dumbledore asked, good-bye, the end. Any questions?" Moody's magical eye whizzed around.

I leaned back and smiled. Most of the class looked terrified of him, but I thought he was funny.

"Now, some would say you are too young to know certain information. But I say otherwise! So, could someone tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

I looked at Harper. "What are those?"

"Russo! Do you have something to say?" he suddenly called on me. "Please stand". I stood up. "Now how many are there?"

"Uh...well I only know one that my father forbad me to use...it's the do-over spell, _McReary-Time Reary_", I said.

Suddenly, I felt time go back to a few seconds before.

"Now, some would say you are too young to know certain information. But I say otherwise! So, could someone tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" he repeated again. Suddenly, he looked perplexed at the fact that it was moments ago once again. The whole class muttered at each other.

"Miss Russo, that is quite an interesting spell! It's not the kind of forbidden spell I was looking for, but please share some with the class later", he said sounding amused.

"Sir, there are three unforgivable curses", Hermione suddenly said. Yeah, she was the kind of person who just had to answer everything right.

"Correct! Correct!" Professor Moody wrote them on the chalkboard. "And they are so named?"

"They are unforgivable. The use of any one curse on another human being will-"

"Land you a one way ticket to Azkaban."

"What's Azkaban?" I asked Harper next to me. I guess I said that a bit loudly because suddenly, the whole class was staring at me. I noticed especially, Draco was gaping at me.

"Azkaban, Miss Russo, is the wizard prison in our country. I have heard of a different kind back in yours", Professor Moody clarified.

"Yeah, we have the 'Crystals of Justice' there. Usually, the wizards sent to that prison are sentenced to death", I answered. Everyone around me started muttering again.

"Yeah, well Azkaban might just be worse than death for some people", Moody muttered under his breath. "Anyways, can someone name a unforgivable curse?" No answer. "Weasley!"

"Yes?" Ron squeaked.

"Stand. Give us a curse." Moody looked expectantly at Ron.

"The Imperious Curse." Ron answered.

"Yes, yes. The Imperious Curse, very tricky." Moody went over to a table and pulled out a spider. He enlarged it and faced the class. "Imperio!"

Suddenly, he made it jumped onto Ron's desk. Now from the things I've learned about Ron, he hated spiders more than anything. I snickered when I saw him petrified as the spider crawled on his desk. Suddenly, the spider jumped onto Goyle, who was sitting right behind Draco. Right after, it jumped onto Harper's head.

"Augh! Get it off me! Get it off me!" she screamed. The spider jumped to another location. I was laughing hysterically as Harper looked at me with her hands folded.

"What, are we gonna pretend that wasn't funny?" I asked her. I turned to the teacher, who was still controlling the spider's actions. "That's a pretty cool spell..."

I laughed even harder when the spider jumped onto Pansy's face. "Hey Pansy! That's quite an improvement to your face!" I yelled to her at the back as her Slytherin faces tried to hit it off her, which resulted in one of her friends hitting Pansy smack in the face and missing the spider that had jumped off. The Gryffindors were laughing hysterically.

Moody chuckled as he moved the spider back to his own palm.

"What should I have her do next, drown herself? Or maybe jump out the window? People said they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the imperious curse. Now here's the rub, how do we sort out the liars? Another curse?"

Several people silently rose their hands, obviously knowing the curses from hearing it from their parents. To my surprise, even Neville raised his hand.

"Neville Longbottom is it? Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for her Herbology." Moody said semi-fondly.

"The-the Cruciatus Curse", Neville stuttered.

"Ah, now, pay attention everyone. Crucio!"

The spider began squealing in high pitched octaves and writhing on the table top. I noticed Neville began looking pained at this. I started to feel a little uncomfortable myself. I felt Harper trembling next to me as well as the spider suffered.

"STOP IT! Can't you see it's bothering him?" Hermione suddenly said loudly. "Stop it!"

I started breathing normally when I saw the spider relaxing in relief, but Moody picked up the spider and held it up so everyone could see.

"Would someone give me the last curse?" he asked silently. "Surely you must know this one Miss Russo. Defeater of the Angels of Darkness". I looked up in surprise as I saw his fake eye moving around. Bad memories of that event came flooding back to me.

"Avada Kedvra", I whispered as I remembered Gorog, the leader of the Angels of Darkness, shot me with that spell, thankfully missing, my life flashing before my eyes.

* * *

_Flashback:_

_I shot a spell at one of the angels of darkness, knocking the last of Gorog's guards to the side. Justin, who was no longer possessed by Gorog's evil, shot a spell at Gorog, but missed. Instead, he got knocked backwards by the dark angel._

_"Justin!" I yelled running to his rescue._

_All of a sudden, I heard "Avada Kedvra!" and a flash of green light went right past me. I never heard of the incarnation before, but didn't think twice about it at the time as I chanted the spell that destroyed Gorog once and for all._

* * *

Harper looked at me in surprise as I felt all eyes on me.

"_Avada Kedvra!_" The spider died instantly in a flash of green. I flinched in my seat. So that's what happens to someone that is hit by the spell. The only reason I knew it was a killing curse was because I had asked Professor Crumbs about the strange sounding incarnation.

I didn't feel that good anymore as Moody continued to talk. "The Killing Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it. And he's sitting in this room". I turned around and glanced at Harry before turning back to the front, leaning my head on Harper's shoulder.

"You okay Alex?" Harper whispered to me.

I nodded. "I think so". I put my hand to my head. "It's just some bad memories". Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the platinum hair boy staring at me with concern.

"You okay Alex?" I felt Seamus tap my shoulder behind me. His friend, Dean, also looked concerned.

"I'm fine guys. Thanks", I said to them grateful that they were concerned about me.

Suddenly, the bell rang. I noticed Neville rushing past me out of the classroom, and towards the end of the lesson, I didn't blame him at all. "Lets go Harper", I said quietly, pulling her out of there with me.

"Alex, wait up!" Harry called my name. I turned around and saw him catching up to me. "You okay back there? You seemed...uneasy".

I smiled at him and put my hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Harry, I'm fine", I reassured him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Draco slouching and looking rather annoyed for some reason. I wonder what his deal was?

"I'll catch up with you guys in a sec", I told the Gryffindor group as I walked towards the platinum boy. "What's up?" I asked him.

"What is up?" he repeated in an annoyed tone. "Nothing. At. All", he pronounced each syllable.

"Gee, it sure sounds like nothing", I said sarcastically. "Come on Draco, you're my friend. Actually, best friend in fact, despite we have known each other for only a few days. I can read you like a book".

He opened his mouth to say something, but Professor Moody interrupted us. "Ms. Russo, Mr. Malfoy. Don't you both have classes to attend to?"

"Actually, I have a free period now", I informed him. "I'm about to head to the courtyard to practice some 'British' magic".

"And you Mr. Malfoy?"

"I have a free, too".

"Well, off you go you two", Professor Moody said. "Oh and Alex, don't forget to show us some of your magic in our next lesson when we practice using defensive spells", he said winking at me, his eye ball moving around a lot.

"Hey, no prob teach!" I said as me and Draco went down the stairs. He looked at me weirdly.

"American slang is so weird!" he muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "That's what WE say about British sayings".

Draco rolled HIS eyes. "So are you going to practice some magic now?"

"That's what I said to him".

"I'll help you".

"Oh, it's fine. It's your free time after all-"

"But I want to help".

I smiled to the side of my face as I looked at his unfathomable expression in his face. _He looked so cute like that...stop that! Remember he's your friend. Scratch that, your new best friend! Besides, you don't want a new relationship right now._

That afternoon, during our free time, Draco patiently helped me with the spells until I basically got all the basics down. In my opinion, it was not as challenging as the spells I had used back home. It was just a matter of concentration and correct wand movements. Also, I thought it was a lot less memorization we had to do.

"Well done Alex! I must be a pretty good teacher if I say so myself!" Draco bragged. I rolled my eyes, but secretly I agreed with him. He was a good teacher.

"_Wingardium leviosa_!" I flicked my wand at the book he was holding. "Now if only there was a summoning spell!" I laughed.

"Actually", Draco said opening the book. "There is a charm for that, but we learn that this year. It's_ Accio_".

"Hmm, well then..._Accio_", I said. To my surprise, along with Draco, the book flew right into my hands. I hadn't meant for the spell to work intentionally, but it somehow did.

"Woah! How did you do that Alex?" he walked over to me in surprise. "That's supposed to be more advanced magic at your level!"

I shrugged, looking at the book. "Beats me. Maybe I can only do complex spells".

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Well, you do it so effortlessly! In fact, you didn't use so much effort doing the other spells as well!" I sat on the grass and he did the same. "You're an amazing wizard".

"Well, it's all I've got", I said as I put my books back into my bag.

Draco looked at me. "What are you talking about?"

I sighed, facing him. "Magic is the only thing I'm good at. Winning the 'Wizard of the Year' award, defeating the Angels of Darkness...if it weren't for those, I would be nothing". I looked at the grass I hugged my knees. "Justin is good at everything. He's smart and perfect in school. Max is great at making friends, so everyone loves him".

"Alex". To my surprise, Draco puts his hand on mine. "You're crazy for thinking that magic is all you have got. You've got an amazing personality and you do pretty well in school. It's not like Know-it-All-Granger, but you just transferred here from the Americas. You don't have to be perfect, cause who you are is just fine".

I smiled sideways at him as I took it all in. "You seriously mean that Draco?" I asked softly.

He locked his grey eyes into mine. "Every word of it", he whispered. I felt myself starting to lean in towards him slowly...and he was doing the same...

"ALEX!"

We both jumped about a foot away from each other at the sound of the voice. I saw Harper walking towards us. Hopefully she didn't notice anything...

"Where were you?" she asked me. "We thought you were gonna follow us after class".

"Oh, I was, but Draco told me that he'd help me learn and practice some spells", I explained to her, relieved that she didn't seem to notice anything.

"Oh okay", Harper said simply. "By the way, how does this dress look like on me?"

She was wearing a shell fish dress, a lobster head wear, and shell earrings. I looked at Draco and he gave me a weird look. Actually, I noticed that everyone in the courtyard was now looking at Harper.

"Uh...it's great", I lied. "Not something that would stand out".

"I know, right! Our headmistress gave me permission to wear my outfit since I did after all bring ten suitcases full of them!" Harper said happily. "So I kind of toned down on my outfits at her request". I rolled my eyes when she wasn't looking.

"Hey guys", I saw Max coming over to us. "Hey Harper, I see you toned down on your outfits!" This boy is...I don't even know what to say about him.

"Hey Max, what's up?" I asked him.

"Did you know that there are secret passages in this castle?" he asked. "See, I was leaning against that one-eyed witch statue, and suddenly, I'm in a secret passage way!" He paused. "Oh yeah, have you figured out how to do the spells?"

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks to a great tutor", I jokingly punched Draco in the arm, who grinned and rolled his eyes. "How are you doing Max?"

"I'm actually doing great. That girl, Luna, is helping me", he said. "By the way, what are nargles?" He walked away.

Harper turned to me. "Yeah, I see Max is still himself. What classes do you have after this?" I showed her my schedule. "Hey! I have two of the same classes! I'll see you in them later!" She walked away.

"We better head to our classes now", Draco said getting up and giving me a hand. "That was fun".

"Thank you so much by the way. At least I won't be as behind as I was before!" I said to him. "I'll see you later!"

"Yeah, I'll see you later".


	8. Chapter 8

Alex's POV

In one month, Hogwarts became my official home away from home. I've made a lot of friends, mostly in Gryffindor. Apparently, Justin kept telling the Ravenclaws stories about my dangerous adventures and reckless magic, so they kept away from me. Even though I thought the Hufflepuff house was kind of lame, I made friends with quite a few of the guys there. Basically, all my friends were guys, except for Harper, Hermione, Ginny, and I guess I can consider Luna my friend.

Fred and George became my new bros. We pulled pranks on practically every teacher, except for the headmaster and McGonagall of course. They showed me all the secret passageways to sneak in and out of Hogwarts with out having Filch catch us.

Even though our houses hated each other, I still continued to hang out with Draco whenever I could. Blaise and Harper kept saying that we acted like a couple, but I think they just meant that we were really comfortable with each other. He helped me catch up to the level of a regular, fourth year Hogwarts student by the middle of the month. Hermione also helped me, though I think most of it was unnecessary according to Ron.

"She just likes to ramble on about things that we don't need to learn about till we are in seventh year!" he said loudly so that Hermione could hear him.

I giggled at their interactions with one another, because honestly, I thought they liked each other! They started to argue AGAIN.

Me and Harry looked at each as if to say, "They are at it again!" and shook our heads.

I sat next to Harry during the meals and we would talk about the 'muggle' things. ("Oh yeah, we also watch that in America". "Seriously? Oh, did you see that movie with Johnny Depp?") Like that.

"Yo Alex!" I saw Max coming over towards me. "Are you going to Hogsmade this weekend?"

"Yeah, I guess so".

"Can you lend me some cash?"

"Don't you have your own?"

"I did, but these Slytherins took my wallet before..."

I hit my fists on the table. Those stupid, arrogant Slytherins! They think they are all that, but I was about to show them what a New Yorker can do to them!

"Show me which guys took the money from you", I said to him, getting up from the table. "Do you know who they are?"

Max nodded. "It was that guy, Marcus Flint, and the rest of his cronies".

I smirked, knowing this guy was afraid of me. Actually, most of the school was afraid of me. They knew not to mess with Alex Russo, especially after I sent half of the Slytherin girls to the hospital wing with elephant trunks. (Just as I did to Pansy on the first day)

"Hey Flint!" I yelled his name as I got up from the table I was sitting at. Normally, I wouldn't defend my brother like this, but it will give me a good excuse to pick on the Slytherins.

He nearly jumped in the air and started backing away when he saw me. "R-Russo", he stuttered. I noticed the other guys were looking at him as if to say 'condolences to you'.

"I heard you were picking on my brother", I said coolly.

He scoffed as his big friends surrounded him. "I have no idea what you're talking about Russo", he said. "But I suggest you just wander off you filthy half-blood-"

Before I knew it, to everyone's surprise, Draco had punched that guy across the face, sending him flying backwards. "Don't you dare call her that!" he yelled at Flint angrily.

I walked over to his side as the whole hall murmured. "Why did you do that? Won't it look bad for you if you were defending..you know, someone like me?"

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Please, I could really careless about that now. Come and sit with me", he said wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leading me to his table with Blaise. I saw that Max gave me a grateful look, but confused when he saw Draco's arm around me.

As we sat down, I fist touched with Blaise as Dumbledore cleared his throat to speak.

"I heard that the other school is arriving tonight. Supposedly opposite of the Beauxibatons. All guys in this school according to what I heard the teachers talking about", I whispered as he talked.

"Right, I heard it was Drumstrang? My father was going to send me there, but my mother wouldn't let him since it was too far away", Draco said to him.

Dumbledore then announced in a grand voice, "Please welcome our friends from the Drumstrang Institute and their highmaster, Igor Karkaroff".

Instantly, the doors opened and tough looking guys walked in the center of the hall in a perfect, straight line. I noticed some of the girls were giggling, and I rolled my eyes at them. I couldn't stand girls' giggling for some reason. It just annoyed me. A LOT.

"Is that Krum?" I heard a few Slythrins at the table whispering.

"Krum...", I said trying to remember if I knew him. "Who is he?"

"He's the famous seeker on the Bulgarians team", Blaise whispered. "Bloody hell, I can't believe it's him!"

"Seeker?" I asked, but let out a gasp when I saw a familiar, British guy walking behind the Krum guy.

"What is it?" I heard Draco asked in concern, but I couldn't move as I recognized the guy...

Mason. My werewolf ex-boyfriend.

About an year ago, he had broke my heart...

* * *

_Flashback:_

_It was after the award ceremony, where I had received my award for being 'Wizard of the Year'. He kissed me lightly on the cheek as we took a step outside to celebrate alone for a little._

_Suddenly, Justin and his vampire girlfriend, Juliet, comes out as well, both giggling._

_"Hey Alex, has your boyfriend met Juliet?" Justin asked walking over to us._

_Mason's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Juliet?"_

_"Mason?" the vampire also looked excited. "Is that really you?"_

_"It is...", he said still staring at her._

_"Wait...how do you guys know each other?" Justin asked getting in between them._

_Juliet answered. "Oh, we used to date"._

_"Yeah, we did", Mason said still staring at her._

_"Mason!" I said a little hurt. "You haven't stopped staring at Juliet"._

_He walked over to Juliet. "I didn't know I would ever see you again. And I never stopped loving you!" _

_Those words just broke me. My whole world shattered. "M-Mason..." I stuttered. "H-How c-could you?"_

_He then looked at me. "Wait, please let me explain Alex!" he said. I didn't give him a chance._

_"I never want to see you again!" I shouted at him, flashing myself out of there._

* * *

To my surprise, Justin was the one that got me through that month. He too, had broken up with Juliet that night. And I knew it was for my sake as well.

But wait, what was Mason doing at a wizarding school?

"Alex!" I suddenly felt someone shaking me. I saw it was Draco, looking very worried. "You alright? You seem a bit pale now".

"Yeah, I'll be fine", I smiled at him.

"Alex!" I heard someone hiss my name. I turned around to see it was Harper, who was crouched down on the floor. She crawled her way over to me and sat next to me. "Did you see him?"

"Yeah I did", I said. "But I don't care anymore. He can just go jump off the astronomy tower for all I care".

"Who?" Draco asked curiously as I took a sip of water.

"Just some stinkin', stupid, annoying, stupid guy!" I said crushing my cup. As a result, water spilled all over me. "Ugh!" I said as I dried myself with some napkins.

"Are you okay?" Draco looked concern as he handed me some napkins.

"Alex, calm down", Harper said to me. "It's not like you'll see him around that much anyways".

"I guess not", I muttered, getting up from the table and stomping out of the hall. I didn't care if I was interrupting Dumbledore. I didn't care that everyone was now looking at me storming out of the hall. I felt like my life was just turning into hell again.

"Professor, I'll go talk to her", I heard Justin say in the Great Hall. I headed towards the restroom when a hand stopped me.

"Justin, go away", I said. "I have to clean my front".

Justin turned me around to face him. "Alex, I know it's hard for you that Mason is here, but just try to ignore him for now".

"Justin, that's easy for you to say. He really broke my heart that night...", I said. "Besides, what is HE doing at a wizard's school?"

He sighed. "I have no idea, but lets talk about that some other time. Okay Alex? Please come back to the hall and just ignore him. I promise if he hurts you or tries to harm you in anyway, it will be the last thing he ever does. I'm here for you".

I smiled at my brother. "Thanks Justin", I said hugging him. "That really means a lot to me that you would help me like that".

"Anytime Alex".

We pulled apart and walked back into the Great Hall together. We both just sat at the end of the Gryffindor table. It seemed like Dumbledore was explaining the rules of the Triwizard Tournament just like the first night we came here.

"Let the tournament begin!" he said, revealing the 'Goblet of Fire'. Blue fire rose from the worn out looking cup.

"Cool", I muttered. "Do people seriously risk their lives in a tournament like this?"

"I guess so", Justin whispered. "What kind of scares me is the fact that they let students join. So if that's the case, it shouldn't be all bad, right?"

"Maybe I should try entering", I said, wanting a taste of adventure. I mean, back home, I did a bunch of crazy yet dangerous things. This Triwizard thing can't be any more worse, right?

"Alex, no!" Justin hissed. "This is not something to even joke about. There's a reason there is a age restriction! I forbad you to enter!"

I pouted. "Geez, you sound like dad now".

"Alex, promise me you won't try to enter that thing. It could be dangerous. Think of the consequences. Who knows what tasks you will have to do?"

"Justin, come on-"

"Alex, promise me".

I sighed as I looked at my older brother. "Fine, I promise".


	9. Chapter 9

Alex's POV

I sat with Harper in the Great Hall as we watched the students enter their names into the Goblet of Fire. It was interesting to see who would enter. That popular guy from Hufflepuff, Cedric, had just put his name into the Goblet. The girls started squealing as he looked at them. See, that's one of the reason I don't get along with girls. They squeal for no reason what so ever ALL the time. Unfortunately for me, those were two of my roommates, Lavender and Parvati.

"Wow, these people are so brave for entering their names", Harper sighed. "Even if I were seventeen, I wouldn't enter it".

"Well, I would at any age, but Justin made me swear not to enter it", I said as I leaned back in my seat.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered my eyes. "Guess who?"

I rolled my eyes but smiled. "Hey Draco", I said as I turned to see the platinum hair boy sit next to me.

"Hey Alex", he said. "I take it you don't have any classes now?"

"Oh, I actually kind of do, but it's History of Magic", I said coolly. "I told Ron to say 'here' when the professor called my name out on the attendance sheet".

Draco chuckled as Harper rolled her eyes.

"By the way", Draco started to say shyly. "Are you going to Hogmade this weekend?"

"Yup, I wanna check out all the cool tricks I heard they sell at Zonkos", I remembered what Fred and George had told me about the place.

"Wanna go together? I can show you around".

I looked at him. "Sure! Sounds great!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn Harper was holding back a smirk on her face, but I wouldn't be sure because it was instantly replaced with a gasp.

"Hello Alex", said a VERY familiar voice that I did not want to hear.

I turned around slowly and saw Mason with an expressionless face standing over me.

"Hello Mason", I used the exact same tone he did. I really wasn't in the mood to see him. Yeah, I can hold grudges for VERY long.

"Bit of a surprise to see you here", he said in a monotone voice to my annoyance.

"Should say the same to you", I replied back coolly. I got up from where I was sitting and gestured to Harper and Draco. "Lets go", I muttered to them.

"Wait Alex", Mason put his hand on my shoulder. "I want to talk to you".

"Well, we all want things, don't we?"

"Alex, please, if it's about what happened that night, I want to fix it", he seemed insistent, but I couldn't take this now.

"Mason, please", I begged quietly. I knew we were causing a scene in that hall and the last thing I wanted were for people to see us together. "Mason, you broke my heart in front of me. What is there to say?"

With that, I swept out of there myself as everyone stared at me.

"Move!" I shoved a seventh year guy out of the way as I made my way out of room. My bad mood suddenly came back again as I kept thinking of the night we broke up...how he literally said "I love you" to another girl right in front of me. I wish I were exaggerating, but this is too true.

"Alex!" I heard my name being called as I sped walked in the middle of the hall as the students moved out of my way, seeing my foul mood. "Alex!"

I stopped and turned around. "What?!" I snapped. To my surprise, it was Harry, who looked as startled as the other students around. I soften a little, knowing that I shouldn't take my anger out on my friends.

"I'm sorry", I muttered. The tears I had tried so hard to hold back slowly came out as I suddenly embrace the jet black haired guy, sobbing into his robe.

I felt his muscles relax as he wraps his arm around me, stroking my hair and saying, "Shh, shh Alex".

"Alex?" I let go of Harry and saw Hermione and Ron running towards us. "What happened?" Hermione asked.

"It's fine...just some bad memories that came back to me", I said in a low voice.

"Alex!" I heard Mason calling my name.

"Stay. Away. From. ME!" I spat out at him as memories of the night came back to me...

* * *

_"Wait...how do you guys know each other?" Justin asked getting in between them._

_Juliet answered. "Oh, we used to date"._

_"Yeah, we did", Mason said still staring at her._

_"Mason!" I said a little hurt. "You haven't stopped staring at Juliet"._

_He walked over to Juliet. "I didn't know I would ever see you again. And I never stopped loving you!"_

* * *

A feeling of anger and betrayal started coming back to me. I felt something though, that I haven't felt before. A something powerful...like a power surge gathering in my hands.

Without thinking, I whip my wand out of my boot and point it at Mason. Instantaneously, some kind of black void comes out of my wand and throws Mason backwards in the wall.

"What the...", I breathed, looking at my wand. I haven't even said a spell, nor had I thought of one. It was as if I weren't controlling my own actions...

I turned to Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who were looking pale at me as all the students around me gasped.

The world around me started spinning around as I started to cough violently into my arm. As I lifted my arm up, I saw black. Black blood.

Suddenly, I shut my eyes tightly as I feel something inside of me literally trying to control my every moves. I felt his presence. _Who was it?_

"Get out", I muttered as someone tried lifting me off the ground, but I was way past gone by then. In a few seconds, the whole world around me went pitch black.

* * *

"Do you think she's alright?"

"What the heck happened?"

"Just tell me! Is she going to be alright?"

The voice of my loud, dorky brother brought me back into reality as I squinted my eyes slowly. Where was I?

"Shh! She's waking up!" came Harper's voice. "Guys! She's waking up!"

I let out a groan as I tried lifting my self into an upright position as I opened my eyes, looking at my surroundings. I was in the hospital wing, surrounded by many people...familiar people...

"Alex!" I felt someone hugging me tightly, and I did not push him away.

"Get off of her you ferret", I heard Ron growl.

Draco let go of me as he sat on my bed, along with Justin and Harper who were looking very worried.

"What happened?" I asked dumbly. God, this pain in my head was killing me! Did I have a hangover? I haven't drunk...so I wouldn't know what a hangover felt like...

"Alex, thank goodness you're okay", Hermione said relieved. "At first, we had no idea what came over you-"

"Ms. Russo", a voice interrupted her. Everyone around me and turned to see it was the headmaster. "It's good to finally see that you're awake".

"Professor, what happened? One minute I felt like I was being controlled, and the next-"

He held his hand up. I stopped talking.

"The fact is Ms. Russo, you were indeed under a controlling spell, the _imperious_ curse", he explained. I remembered that curse being mentioned during Moody's class. It was one of the 'unforgivable curses'.

"But sir, she wasn't under it for very long, was she?" Hermione asked.

Dumbledore did not move or reply. Instead, he took a step back as someone suddenly appeared behind him.

"Crumbs?!" I heard myself, Justin, and Max all say at the same time as the rest of the British students looked at us curiously.

"Alex", Crumbs started saying. I missed having the professors call me by my first name. "Alex, I haven't told you this before, but perhaps I should tell you this now".

"Should we leave the room?" Harper asked, glancing in my direction.

"I think all of you, as Alex's friends, should hear about this. But I should tell you all to NOT repeat this to the other students", Crumbs said gravely.

"Someone get this ferret out of here", I heard Ron whisper, but earned a pillow thrown from me at him. I felt Draco moving closer next to me, making me blush as I slowly felt our hands intertwine.

"Alexandra", Crumbs sounded serious. "You just may be one of the most powerful wizards of this generation".

"Say what now?" Justin said standing up straighter now. I would have smirked a little at this, knowing full well that HE wanted those words to be said at him and not at me, but seeing that the situation was serious, I kept a straight face.

"No one, particularly someone as young as you, could have fought the _imperious_ curse in so little time", Dumbledore said quietly. "The energy that came from your wand was your own power Ms. Russo, though you were not the one controlling it".

A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Where's Mason?"

"He's fairing well", Dumbledore answered. "In fact, he's in the bed next to your's".

I turned to where the professor pointed and saw a sleeping, bruised up Mason lying there. _I can't believe I did that to him..._

"I have a question sir", Harper suddenly asked. "Why is it that Alex's full powers showed up now? Even if she were under the _imperious_ curse, wouldn't we have known this a while a ago?"

"The fact is Harper", Crumbs answered. "it had to do with Alex's emotions at the given time".

_Emotions? I just remembered feeling a lot of anger, rage, betrayal at the time..._

"You have to be careful about your emotion's Alex, before you can fully control your powers", Crumbs said. "Otherwise, you might end up hurting more people unintentionally".

"But why didn't you tell me about me being powerful and all back at Wiztech?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "If I had told you about it, wouldn't you have taken advantage of it?"

I paused. "That was very smart of you", I concluded as Dumbledore chuckled.

"Very well, now with this matter settled for now, why don't we all let Ms. Russo get her rest?"

Everyone started to leave, but I kept my hand intertwined with Draco's. "Please don't go", I muttered to him. For some reason, he was one of the only people at the moment that could keep me sane, especially considering my ex-boyfriend was unconscious in the bed next to me.

"Harper", I mouthed at my best friend, who instantly got the message and came back over to my side.

I waited for everyone to leave (as the trio glared back at Draco with Ron muttering "ferret" under his breath). Once I saw the doors closed, I threw off my covers and sat up straight in my bed.

"Where's that nurse, Madame P-"

"She's down in the dungeon, retrieving some kind of potion to cure Mason with", Harper explained.

I glanced at Mason as sighed. "I never meant to hurt him, but for some reason, I felt so angry at the time..."

"What did he do to you?" Draco asked softly.

I opened my mouth but quickly closed it before closing my eyes and looking down onto the bed. "Nothing".

"He used to be her boyfriend", Harper answered for him.

"Oh".

"I don't understand though...who could have been manipulating me?" I asked out loud.

"No one knows, but they had to have been someone within this castle", Harper explained. "There's no way anyone outside the castle can use the _imperious_ curse on you with all the magical protections and barriers around this school".

"So that means someone who wants me hurt is inside this castle this very second. Well, that cheered me up Harper", I said sarcastically.

"Don't worry Alex", Draco said wrapping his arms around me. "I'll protect you", he said and kissed me on the cheek.

I blushed a little as Harper started having a giggling fit, making me glare at her when she looked away.

"Anyways", Harper said after holding back her giggles, "Dumbledore said that since you were able to break the person's control of you so easily and fast, that person won't probably try to use the imperious curse on you anymore. But still, please be careful".

"I will Harper".


	10. Chapter 10

**Just a note, I changed up some stuff, like about the vampire biting a werewolf doesn't make the werewolf turn into a werewolf forever. In my story, it basically makes him into a mortal. The plot may not make sense, but what I'm doing is extracting bits and parts of Wizards of Waverly Place and Harry Potter scenes into this storyline. Please continue to review! xD**

* * *

Alex's POV

Before I knew it, I was finally out of the hospital wing. Harper waited for me just outside the room.

We walked down together into the Great Hall and took a seat by ourselves at the end of the table. Max came walking over to us. "Hey guys", he said as he sat down. "How are you feeling Alex?"

"A lot better now", I said to him. "I'm just really hungry".

I frowned as I saw dishes of vegetables in front of me. I muttered a spell and one of the dishes turned into a plate full of chocolates and sweets, which I grabbed and started eating.

Harper looked at me in disgust as I offered her and Max some of the sweets. "You just got out of the hospital wing and your already eating unhealthy food?"

"Why not?" I asked as I chewed on a toffee. A shadow from behind suddenly came up and I turned to see Mad-Eye Moody.

"Ms. Russo. Just heard about your incident a few days ago", he said as people around me started lowering their voices. "I'm glad you are alright".

"I am sir, thank you", I replied, not as intimidated as the other students of him.

"I'd be careful", his eye started whizzing around in circles. "You never know who you can trust".

Next to me, Max was looking at the plate of broccoli in front of him. "Ugh, I hate broccoli", he said and took out his wand. "_Proton, neutron, get gone_". The broccoli instantly shrank.

I rolled my eyes as he tried flicking the non existent plate of broccoli in front of him. "Whatever", he said. "_When you're tired of the same old story, turn some pages, trashcan_". He turned into a trashcan instantly.

I turned back to the professor, whose magical eye was just staring at Max weirdly along with the rest of the table.

"Yeah, we don't know him", I said as Harper nodded.

He slowly nodded before going his way. Why did I have to be cursed with the stupidest brothers in the whole universe?

* * *

Everyone quickly ate their dinners. Tonight was the night when the champions of the Goblet of Fire would be revealed. I heard that (hilariously) Fred and George tried to put their names into the Goblet but failed and ended up with beards.

I sat with the Gryffindors at the long table Dumbledore added next to the Slytherin table. Harper sat with me and the trio, Harry,, Hermione, and Ron. For some reason, Harry kept glancing at me every once in a while as we ate. I caught myself blushing a little as Harper noticed this as well and nudged me in the arm.

To my relief, Dumbledore finally clapped his hands to silence us. Next to him were some people from the Ministry of Magic. Ron had told me earlier that all those people from the ministry were a bunch of "gits". I believed him since that went the same for ours back home. Besides Professor Crumbs, I didn't like anyone else who worked in the magical government and all that stuff.

"The Goblet of Fire will now choose our three champions!" he said grandly as the goblet started changing colors. All of a sudden, a burnt piece of parchment came out of the goblet, smoking and crisp. Dumbledore caught it. "From Beauxibatons, Fleur Delacour!"

Everyone cheered as the first champion, a pretty blonde girl in blue uniform, went up, shook Dumbledore's hand, and went into the champion's door behind the teacher's high table.

The goblet lite up again. Another parchment.

"Victor Krum!"

Squeals from a bunch of girls made me cover my ears in annoyance as Harper, next to me, swooned with every other girl in the hall. Ron also looked a little annoyed as Harry leaned back and chuckled.

The goblet lite up as Krum went to the door Fleur went through before.

"And finally, Cedric Diggory!"

More squeals. I couldn't really blame them this time. Cedric was actually not that bad looking. For some reason, he kind of got on my nerves with his VERY polite and modest behavior. I mean, he had to be faking it or something. That's what I think.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore's voice boomed. "We now have our three champions! But in the end, only one will go down in victory. Only one-"

He stopped talking. I sat up straighter in my seat as the goblet began to light up again. People began muttering as it lite up even brighter.

"Alex, what's it doing?" Harper whispered.

Suddenly, one piece of parchment came out. Everyone is the hall was dead silent as Dumbledore looked carefully at it.

"Alexandra Russo".

My eyes widened as I looked at Harper, whose mouth dropped to the ground. I looked at the trio, who looked at me in shock. I could feel Justin's eyes burning hole in my head as I looked across the room at the Ravenclaw table.

"Alright! Good job Alex-", I heard Max clap and say before Ginny cupped her hand over his mouth and punched him in the arm.

Behind me, even Pansy Parkinson was looking rather shocked at me. The face that stood out the most to me in the Slytherin crowd was Draco's face. He had a confused but worried look as I swiftly lock eyes on him for one second before turning back to the headmaster, who was looking almost as stunned as everyone else in the hall.

"Alexandra Russo!" his voice amplified once again, making me jump in my seat.

"You better go", Hermione whispered. "Go on".

"Wait, no", I whispered. I stood up, and looked around the hall. "I didn't do it. I didn't put my name into the goblet", I said loudly. No one said a word as everyone stared at me.

"Just go Alex", Harper whispered to me, pushing me forward.

I walked slowly towards the front of the hall, where Dumbledore was standing. I looked past him and saw that all the teachers looked stunned as well, even Professor Snape.

Avoiding eye contact with the headmaster, I took the piece of parchment he held out for me to see. I glanced at it before looking up at the professor.

"Sir, this isn't even my handwriting-"

The goblet went alive once again. People in the hall gasped and started muttering again. In one way, I felt a little relieved. _At least people will know that this has been a mistake if I'm not the only "champion" that shouldn't have been selected._

Looking stunned, Dumbledore caught the smoking piece of paper and read it out loud.

"Mason Greyback".

Another stunned silence. At the far end of the Drumstang table with the Beauxbaton girls, a shaky, British guy slowly stood up and made his way over to where I was.

Mason made quick eye contact with me before turning towards the headmaster.

"Sir, I swear I didn't put my name in there".

Dumbledore didn't answer. He just stared at the both of us with great seriousness along with the guy from the Ministry of Magic. The both of us retreated to the back of the teacher's high table and went through the door where the other champions went.

Me and Mason didn't say a word to each other as we walked. What the heck was happening? Why did our names show up? From what I remembered about Mason, he wouldn't do something like this. He wasn't usually such a risk taker like me.

"Did you put your name in the goblet?" the words just slipped out of my mouth.

Mason stopped and looked at me in surprise. "I beg your pardon?"

I sighed. "Did you put your name in the goblet?"

"No, of course I didn't. Besides, how would I do it?"

He had a point there. It had to be some powerful wizard that did this. Probably one of the teachers. I would think that Snape would do something like this since he hates me, but he was still a teacher. And I knew he was smart enough not to pull something like this in front of Dumbledore.

"Did you do it?"

I looked up in surprise at Mason's question to me. He locked eyes with me. I sighed again.

"No, I didn't. I promised Justin I wouldn't", I said honestly. "Besides, like you, how would I be able to do it?"

"You would find a way to", he retorted. I ignored him. He continued. "Alex, how are you even at Hogwarts? I know you have your fair share of pranks, but this has gone too far. You shouldn't be going to a school like this if-"

Suddenly, I felt myself getting angry as I grabbed the front of his t-shirt. I'm not that physically strong, but with all the anger I was feeling, I probably could have lifted him off of his feet.

"I shouldn't be here?! What about you?" I growled as fear flickered in his eyes. "At least I'm a wizard going to an ALL wizard's school. You're a werewolf!"

"But I'm not anymore!"

At this, I let go of his shirt and back away from him a little in surprise.

"W-What do you mean 'anymore'?"

He looked down on the ground and sighed. "After we broke up, I wanted to set things straight with you. However, Juliet was angry at me for hurting you and turned into her vampire form. Of course, I turned into a werewolf to defend myself. And when we fought, she bit me".

"What?" my eyes widened. "Mason, why would Juliet do that? Even if she was mad at you-"

"When vampires turn into their original forms, they don't think like humans", Mason explained. "And when a vampire bites a werewolf, that werewolf loses their werewolf powers and turns into a mortal".

"But that doesn't explain why you're here".

Mason rubbed the back of his head. "Because, just recently, I found out that in my mortal form, I'm a wizard".

I let out a gasp as he took out his wand inside his robe.

"See?" he said as he put his wand back into his robe pocket. "I just found out half an year ago from the Ministry of Magic when I came back to my home in England".

All this information was too much to take in as I leaned against the wall for support. I looked away from him as I looked down the dark hall we were walking through. I felt his hand touch my shoulder, but I pull away instantly.

"Don't touch me", I said in a bitter voice. He may be a wizard now, but it didn't change the fact that he had hurt me. "Lets just go...now".

"Alex-", Mason's voice pleaded, but I moved past him quickly.

Walking down the dark, narrow hallway, I began to see light at the end of it. To my surprise, we ended in the trophy room, where the three other champions were wandering around.

The girl, Fleur, looked at us.

"Oh, diz they vant us to go back into zee Great Hall?" she said with her thick French accent.

"Uh-", Mason was about to say, but got interrupted by the doors slamming open, revealing a serious looking Professor Dumbledore along with a bunch of other teachers. To my surprise, Professor Crumbs and Chancellor Rootie Tootietootie were among the teachers as well.

"Crumbs?" Mason said out loud.

"Chancellor Rootie Tootie?**"** I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Alex", Professor Crumbs ignored my question. He sounded very serious. "Did you or did you not put your name in the Goblet?"

"I didn't!" I said loudly as the other three champions started to watch the scene. "I swear, I didn't".

Professor Crumbs didn't say anything.

"Look, I swear I didn't! Why don't you put the truth spell on me-"

He raised a hand. "I believe you Alex".

"Huh?" me and Mason said at the same time. I did NOT expect him to say that at all.

Crumbs turned towards Dumbledore and the other teachers. "I believe Alex and what she had said. Despite Alex's misconduct and mischievous ways, I know she is not lying about this".

Chancellor Rootie Tootie chimed in. "Besides, if she were to have done it, the proper spell would have been '_Run, gone, not to admire. Put my name into the fire_.' We all know that Alex doesn't pay attention to any spells that have the word 'run' in it".

I rolled my eyes as I noticed Mason and Crumbs both nodding slightly in a agreement.

"Not to worry", Dumbledore said. "I believe her as well".

"Well this is an outrage!" the headmistress of Beauxbatons exclaimed. "Since when does both Hogwarts and Drumstrang get this special treatment. I feel as if this year's tournament with be full of bias! Vat's next? Will my Fleur be forced to tame giants while all these other's take a nap?"

Dumbledore said in an annoyed tone, "That will NOT be the case Madame Maxime".

"Vat about that boy from Drumstrang?" she pointed at Mason. "Surely HE would be responsible, considering which school he goes to".

"Care to repeat that?" the headmaster of Drumstrang growled.

"I swear, I didn't do it", Mason said. "I barely know the magic here anyways".

"Of course he didn't!"

Everyone turned to Moody, who had been watching the whole thing quietly up until now.

"The Goblet of Fire is an exceptionally power object that only a very powerful wizard could control".

I felt Dumbledore's and Crumb's eyes on me once he said this. Everyone in the room became silent. Dumbledore turned to the guy from the ministry.

"Well Barty, it's up to you", he said.

The guy Barty from the ministry is quiet for a few moments before speaking. "The rules are absolute", he said quietly. "The people the Goblet has chosen must compete no matter what. These kids have no choice".

Everyone in the room stared at me and Mason.

"As of right now, these two are Triwizard champions".

I gulped. This was the one kind of champion I did not want to be at the moment.


	11. Chapter 11

Alex's POV

I stiffly went up to the Gryffindor common room by myself. I thought about stopping over at the Ravenclaw room to see Justin, but he probably wouldn't believe me if I told him that I didn't enter it. He probably thought I had betrayed my promise.

Even though he annoys me at times, a promise is something I always kept with him. It was always the kind of sibling bond we had between us. I don't like to admit this, but even though I want to kill my brothers at times, I would kill for them anytime.

"Alex!" I heard my name being called and I turned around. Harper and Hermione came rushing over towards me.

"Hey guys", I said weakly as they had concern, but stern expressions on their faces.

"Alex, why did you put your name into the Goblet? HOW did you put your name into the Goblet?" Hermione demanded. "You do realize that people DIE in this tournament".

"I do realize that", I respond back rolling my eyes. "And I didn't put my name into the Goblet. First of all, I wouldn't even know how to. And second, I promised Justin I wouldn't".

The two girls just looked at me.

I sighed. "You guys can used the truth spell on me if you want, but I swear I didn-"

"I believe you Alex", Harper said suddenly.

My eyes widened. "You do?" I said softly.

"Alex, you're my best friend. I know you almost as well as you know yourself", she said. "I know that you wouldn't break a promise to Justin. And in light of recent events, I'm not surprised that something like this would happen".

I couldn't help but beam at my best friend as Hermione pondered over this.

"If Harper believes you, I guess I do as well", she said. "Even though I have only known you for a short time, I know you wouldn't lie about something like this".

"Thanks guys", I said feeling lighter than I have felt in a long time. "It really means a lot".

Harper gave me a small smile before frowning. "Wait, so why is Mason involved in this as well?"

"Mason? Isn't he the boy from Drumstrang that was also selected but shouldn't have been?" Hermione asked curiously. I nodded to her answer.

"Harper", I suddenly said as I remembered our talk before. "Mason is a wizard. He's not a werewolf anymore".

Harper's mouth flew open at this. "No way! B-But how-"

"I'll explain later", I said noticing Hermione's puzzled expression. "Come guys, let's go back to the common room and talk about this".

We walked to the portrait of the fat lady.

"Chocolate Frogs", Hermione said and the portrait swung open for us to go in.

Instantaneously, I was surrounded by a bunch of Gryffindors, mostly guys, who were congratulating me and patting me on the back, as if I had just won the Noble Peace Prize.

"Bloody hell Alex!" Ron said looking incredulously. "How did you do it?"

"I thought we were your friends Alex!" the twins whined. "Why didn't you let us in on it?"

"You're pretty daring Russo!"

"Should have known, those Americans!"

"Bloody brilliant!"

I gave them a small smile, not answering anyone as I tried pushing through the crowd to get to the girls' dormitory. However, as I reached the end of the crowd, the jet black haired boy with a scar on his forehead blocked my path with his arms folded.

"Hey", I said weakly to him, but to my surprise, he pushed me against the wall, making everyone in the room go silent. "H-Harry?" I stuttered since I have never seen him like this. He seemed angry, but a flicker of fear went through his eyes.

His face was so close to mine and I was barely breathing. Suddenly, he let's go of my roughly and stomps up to his room. Everyone in the room watched him as he left and looked back at me.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron said breaking the silence. _Well, I 'bloody' don't know Ron._

"What was his deal?" I turned and saw Max, looking off into the direction Harry was going in before looking at me grinning. "Congrates Alex! That must have been the tenth time that Dumbledore had said your name ever since we came to Hogwarts!"

I couldn't help but smile. Dumb ol' Max.

Speaking of my brother...

I turned around and started pushing through the crowd of people to get out of the common room. Everyone gave me a curious look as to where I was going, but I didn't have time to answer them right this second.

Crap! I thought to myself as I left the common room. I'm not allowed to be out here this late. Those teachers are on my trail no doubt, especially after tonight's events.

Muttering the invisibility spell I had learned back at Wiztech, I walked down the stairs and down the long corridors towards Ravenclaw's common room. Suddenly, I feel myself bump into someone.

"Ow!" the voice cried out as I toppled over, ready to cast a memory spell on this person so they wouldn't figure out it was me. "Whose there?"

Wait a minute...that voice is familiar.

"Justin?" I whispered in awe, muttering the counter invisibility spell.

"Alex!" he whispered loudly as I turned uninvisible. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking YOU that. You're not one to break rules, especially wandering around the corridors at night knowing you could get a detention".

Justin looked around before grabbing my arm and leading me into a random closet closest to us. Shutting the door behind him softly, he turned towards me.

"Justin", I said with desperation in my voice. "I swear, I didn't put my name into that Goblet. I know everyone thinks I did because of how I am, but I really didn't this time. I promised you I wouldn't, so I-"

"Alex", Justin suddenly wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back as I felt myself let out a sob. "I believe you".

Those were the words I needed to hear. I'm so used to people not believing me (and I don't blame them). Justin had every right to believe I was lying especially.

"Justin", I said swallowing tears as panic rose in my voice. "People _die_ in this tournament. And Dumbledore said I can't back out because of the rules!"

"It's a binding wizarding contract", he answered letting go of me. "It's similar to a 'wizard's swear'. You can't break out of either one or the penalty is death".

"I might as well choose that! Because I'm going to die either ways-"

"Alex!" Justin said more firmly than before. "You're not going to die. You won't choose death. I won't let you". He sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't know what's happening, but all these events that have occurred obviously mean that someone is trying to kill you. But it's not going to happen".

"But-"

"We're wizards. Nothing is our life has ever turned out normal. We've obviously seen that over the past few years".

I sighed. "Of course. Escaping death several times...it's the price to pay for being a wizard".

"You remember when I was under Gorog's influence, and everything seemed hopeless?" he said to me with soft eyes. "Remember when you wouldn't give up, though it was only you alone and nobody else?"

I closed my eyes as I thought back to that memory...

* * *

_Flashback:_

_"Justin! You don't have to do this!" I yelled as 'evil' Justin smirked at me, obviously under Gorog's Angel of Darkness influence. He held the moral compass, which would control whether the world would be good or evil._

_"Face it Alex, it's only you alone", Gorog said in a teasing voice. "Give up your wand and join us"._

_I looked around as I saw most of the place in ruins. Students I knew from Wiztech were being held captivated while others, like Justin, were also under Gorog's evil spell._

_"Surrender"._

_Raising my wand high in the air, like a flag, I screamed, "NEVER!"_

_Muttering my incarnation, a flash of white took over the place as Gorog yelled, feeling his powers being weakened as everyone under his influence started to feel themselves return to their original state._

* * *

"You rescued me. You saved all those people. Now, it's my turn to save you".

I opened my eyes at this as I looked at my determined older brother. "Justin..."

"I'm going to help you through these three tasks you will have to complete. It won't matter if you win or not, as long as you remain safe. I'm your older brother, and I'll protect you no matter what it takes".

For the first time in while, I hugged my brother and cried softly.

"Come on", he said quietly. "I'll walk you back to your common room".

I swallowed more tears from coming out. "Okay", I said wiping away my tears.


End file.
